{"id":6409,"date":"2026-07-08T15:15:36","date_gmt":"2026-07-08T15:15:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/?p=6409"},"modified":"2026-07-08T15:15:36","modified_gmt":"2026-07-08T15:15:36","slug":"for-u-s-soccer-hiring-mauricio-pochettino-was-a-coup-bringing-him-back-would-be-indefensible","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/?p=6409","title":{"rendered":"For U.S. Soccer, hiring Mauricio Pochettino was a coup. Bringing him back would be indefensible."},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"subnav-title ff-ffc bold fs-23 lh-25 uc pd-b-10\">\n            POPULAR SEARCHES\n          <\/p>\n<p class=\"subnav-title ff-ffc bold fs-23 lh-25 uc pd-b-10\">\n            BROWSE BY\n          <\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-a2155f14>For landing USA men\u2019s World Cup coach Mauricio Pochettino and his women\u2019s national team counterpart Emma Hayes, the U.S. Soccer Federation\u2019s leadership deserves enduring credit.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-a2155f14>Both programs were rudderless after respective unprecedented setbacks at the 2024 Copa Am\u00e9rica and 2023 FIFA Women&#8217;s World Cup. Both needed a refresh.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-a2155f14>In response, USSF president Cindy Parlow Cone and CEO JT Batson lured the best two coaches available against all odds. Former Chelsea manager Emma Hayes was hired to coach the USWNT. Mauricio Pochettino, one of the best-regarded club bosses in Europe following successful stints with Tottenham Hotspur and Paris Saint-Germain, was recruited to lead the men.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-a2155f14>But while Hayes won the U.S. women their fifth Olympic gold medal in just her 10th match in charge, Pochettino\u2019s once-promising tenure ended in flames on Monday in Seattle, where the Stars and Stripes suffered an incomprehensible 4-1 loss to Belgium that rendered their entire 2026 FIFA World Cup campaign on home soil an abject failure.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-a2155f14>The U.S. men have never suffered a more lopsided, embarrassing defeat in the knockout stage of any previous World Cup, a disappointment more than 30 million Americans had the misfortune of watching unfold live. The damage it caused to the USMNT\u2019s credibility is incalculable.<\/p>\n<p><span>(Photo by Robbie Jay Barratt &#8211; AMA\/Getty Images)<\/span> <\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-a2155f14>Yet less than 12 hours later, U.S. Soccer confirmed that it&#8217;s still considering bringing Pochettino back for the 2030 World Cup cycle.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-a2155f14>Yes, you read that correctly.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-a2155f14>&#8220;We have a great deal of respect and gratitude for Mauricio, his staff and everyone part of the program,&#8221; the statement read in part, adding that the two camps had agreed to continue discussing a possible extension. &#8220;We have shared excitement about our potential and also shared clarity about the amount of work at all levels still required to achieve our ambition.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-a2155f14>Since his much-celebrated arrival in September 2024, Pochettino talked up his roots in a place where, per\u00a0his own words on the eve of Monday&#8217;s train wreck, soccer is &#8220;more important than religion.&#8221;\u00a0 He said\u00a0he wanted to mold in his own image a collection of American players that had gotten far too comfortable.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-a2155f14>&#8220;When I was a player with Argentina,&#8221; Pochettino said at his introductory news conference in New York City, &#8220;Copa Am\u00e9rica, World Cup or friendly, it was the same: Show that you&#8217;re the best, and win the game for your country.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-a2155f14>&#8220;That&#8217;s what it means to be competitive,&#8221; he added. &#8220;We&#8217;re going to be focusing on that.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-a2155f14>The standard Pochettino holds his players to also applies to him.<\/p>\n<p><span>(Photo by Sarah Stier &#8211; FIFA\/FIFA via Getty Images)<\/span> <!--&gt;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-a2155f14>Had the 54-year-old overseen the sort of capitulation he did on Monday with <i>his<\/i> national team, at a World Cup hosted in <i>his<\/i> home country, he would have been fired before leaving the stadium. It would be the same in Brazil or France or Germany or any of the other nations whose success the USA hopes to one day emulate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-a2155f14>Pochettino could\u2019ve resigned on the spot, like Portugal\u2019s Roberto Mart\u00ednez did shortly after losing 1-0 to Spain a few hours before the USA\u2019s debacle against Belgium. Instead, Pochettino blamed his players before pointing the finger at himself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-a2155f14>\"Maybe the explanation is so easy \u2014 it wasn\u2019t our day, in the quality and individual,\" he said. \"Of course, the principal [person] responsible is myself and, yes, we need to see and to check what we did, because it wasn\u2019t the performance or [the] way that normally we play.\"<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-a2155f14>Pochettino is a good coach. The USSF was fortunate to sign someone of his caliber, with experience at the highest level, before the most important moment in its 113-year-history. And until Monday, against mostly inferior foes, everything was great.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-a2155f14>But when it was all on the line, Pochettino was badly outmaneuvered by his Belgian counterpart, Rudi Garcia. His job was to get the best out of his team in the game he was hired to win. He didn\u2019t come close. Had the U.S. lost in extra time, the way J\u00fcrgen Klinsmann and Bob Bradley did at the same stage in 2014 and 2010, maybe a case could be made to give Pochettino an entire four-year cycle.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-a2155f14>A 4-1 defeat is indefensible. If that Copa Am\u00e9rica failure cost Gregg Berhalter his job, as it had to, Pochettino shouldn't survive a collapse many multitudes worse.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span>(Photo by Alex Pantling - FIFA\/FIFA via Getty Images)<\/span> --><\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-a2155f14>That\u2019s not to say that Christian Pulisic, Weston McKennie, Tyler Adams and the rest of what was once considered a golden generation of talent shouldn\u2019t shoulder their share of the fallout. And most of the public\u2019s ire has been directed their way. \u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-a2155f14>Those players know they&#8217;ll never live this down. Squandering the opportunity provided by a home World Cup is a stain that will persist beyond their careers. Every single member of that roster will take it to his grave.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-a2155f14>For Pochettino, the sting will subside in comparatively short order. He\u2019ll return to the Premier League, or take another national team job four years from now, or four years after that.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><span>(Photo by David Ramos\/Getty Images)<\/span> <!--&gt;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-a2155f14>There might not even be lasting damage to his reputation. The rest of the world will chalk up Monday\u2019s fiasco to the U.S. just not being good enough. But the Americans punched above their weight for decades before Pochettino got here, including a scoreless draw with England four years ago in Qatar.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-a2155f14>Yet the man billed as a massive upgrade wasn't able to prevent his team from being humiliated in Seattle by the weakest of the eventual quarterfinalists.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-a2155f14>Before you say it was just one game, it wasn't. In Pochettino's 22 months at the helm, he lost seven of eight matches against European opposition, including a 5-2 drubbing by this same Belgian team in March. The Americans haven't beaten one elite opponent during his tenure.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-a2155f14>In a sport where tiny margins decide wins and losses, millions of Americans saw that Pochettino hadn't adequately prepared his squad for the biggest game in American soccer history.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-a2155f14>Hiring Pochettino was a coup for U.S. Soccer. Rewarding him with an extension on the heels of such a profound calamity would be an even bigger own goal.<\/p>\n\n--><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>POPULAR SEARCHES BROWSE BY For landing USA men\u2019s World Cup coach Mauricio Pochettino and his women\u2019s national team counterpart Emma Hayes, the U.S. Soccer Federation\u2019s leadership deserves enduring credit. Both programs were rudderless after respective unprecedented setbacks at the 2024 Copa Am\u00e9rica and 2023 FIFA Women&#8217;s World Cup. Both needed a refresh.\u00a0 In response, USSF [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":6408,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6409","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-soccer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6409","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6409"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6409\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6408"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6409"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6409"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6409"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}