2024-08-15 20:05:02
The U.S. men’s national team reportedly is going with a big name to lead the soccer club.
Argentine Mauricio Pochettino has reached an agreement to become the USMNT’s next head coach, according to reports from The Athletic and ESPN Thursday morning.
The reported hiring of Pochettino comes a month after the USMNT fired Gregg Berhalter on the heels of a shocking first-round exit in the Copa America tournament.
Pochettino, 52, has overseen some of the biggest clubs in the world during his coaching career. He comes to the USMNT after most recently serving as manager of English club Chelsea of the Premier League for the 2023-24 season.
Pochettino’s first lead coaching gig came at the same club where he spent most of his playing career. Just a few seasons after closing out his playing tenure with La Liga’s Espanyol in 2006, the Barcelona-based club hired him as manager midseason in 2009 amid a relegation battle. Pochettino helped Espanyol avoid relegation that year and took the club as high as eighth in the league over the following three seasons.
After being eliminated in the Olympic soccer quarterfinals in a 4-0 loss to Morocco, U.S. midfielder Paxten Aaronson talked about taking lessons from every game to become a stronger player.
He moved over to England in 2013 for his first of three Premier League gigs, starting with Southampton. The Saints went from 14th on the league table in Year 1 under Pochettino to eighth in Year 2, matching the club’s highest-ever finish in the Premier League.
“Big Six” English club Tottenham then swooped in to hire Pochettino in 2014, marking the start of a historic five-year run in London. Spurs finished in the top four of the Premier League in four of Pochettino’s five seasons at the helm.
That included a 2016-17 campaign where Tottenham tallied its most points (86) and highest finish on the table (second) in Premier League history. And in 2018-19, Pochettino guided the club to its first-ever Champions League final, where Spurs fell to Premier League powerhouse Liverpool.
Tottenham moved on from Pochettino in 2019 and he was out of coaching for a over a year until another one of his former clubs — Paris Saint-Germain — came calling in 2021. Pochettino stepped into the PSG job midseason, helping the club win a pair of domestic trophies (French Cup and French Super Cup) and reach the Champions League semifinals for the first time since 1995-96.
PSG then added Lionel Messi in the subsequent summer transfer window, creating a super team of sorts with Messi, Kylian Mbappe and Neymar. PSG won the Ligue 1 title in 2021-22, but the club didn’t come close to capturing its first Champions League title, crashing out of the tournament in the Round of 16.
After being sacked by PSG in 2022, Pochettino made his way back to the Premier League last year to coach another Big Six English club in Chelsea. The Blues finished sixth in the league with 63 points before Pochettino and the club mutually parted ways.
The USMNT’s hopes to advance were spoiled as they were knocked out of the Copa America tournament following a 1-0 defeat against Uruguay.
As a player, Pochettino made 292 appearances with Espanyol and 95 with PSG. The center back also suited up for Argentine club CA Newell’s Old Boys and French club FC Girondins Bordeaux. Internationally, Pochettino had 20 caps with Argentina and was part of the country’s 2002 FIFA World Cup team.
Pochettino is now in line to coach at a World Cup with the USMNT when the tournament is played in North America in the summer of 2026.
