Mauricio Pochettino stays on as USMNT manager, and promises things won’t stay the same

Mauricio Pochettino has signed a new contract to remain the U.S. men’s soccer team’s manager through the 2030 World Cup, U.S. Soccer announced Monday morning.

“I really believe that this is an exciting situation and moment for soccer in the USA,” Pochettino said in a roundtable talk with The Inquirer and other media outlets. ”After 18, 19 months working with the objective that was only the World Cup, now [the goal is] to start in a fresh way with a different approach, trying to create a different philosophy, different idea of what we need to do."

U.S. Soccer initiated talks on a new deal in late spring, with the understanding on both sides that it would be contingent on success in the summer. After the tournament, both sides took a few weeks, then returned to the table and finished the deal.

“They really believed in us before the start of the World Cup,” Pochettino said, “and that, I think, is another positive point for us.”

The 54-year-old Argentine arrived in late 2024, hired through this year’s World Cup. He accomplished most of what he had set out to achieve, raising standards for players by challenging the big stars to shake off their past complacency.

When the biggest moment came, Pochettino oversaw the first U.S. men’s team to win two group games at a World Cup since 1930, and the first knockout-round win since 2002. That led to an unprecedented wave of fan support across the country, and Pochettino seemed to be genuinely inspired by it.

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“The magic thing that happened during the World Cup, in the connection with the people, of course with the whole organization and everything, was a key point to make that decision” to return, he said.

But a blowout loss in the round of 16 meant he wasn’t able to take the program any farther than it had gone before.

Pochettino said Monday that he believes “that gap with the best teams the world is not too big. I think if we will be capable to do things in a different way, to reduce that gap, I think it’s possible.”

The distance includes some of the hardest yards to cover in the sport. So there were serious questions to ask. And to his credit, he answered them pretty directly.

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The first question was how much change Pochettino wants to enact, especially with a new generation of young players ready for a shot at the senior squad. He said he is ready for quite a bit.

“I don’t want to think, and that you believe, that it is a continuity of the last 18 months or 19 months that we were working there‚” he said. “The good thing is that we have the experience and the knowledge about the players that were working with us. And of course, now [we] open the pool to bring, players that were playing in the last year or now they are playing more in MLS, but also for players that maybe we didn’t have time to assess during that process that was a very compact and very short period.”

Pochettino added: “It’s going to be key, it’s going to be important, to provide the young kids that we really believe have the potential to arrive in 2030, in four years, to start to work. And to start to know [them], and set up the principle that we expect from them.”

Another big question, one that a lot of fans have in particular: Will Pochettino actually stay here for the duration of his deal? If he continues to do well here, European clubs will no doubt continue to call. It was no secret before and during the World Cup that there was interest, and he was looking.

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“For us, every time that we sign a contract, it’s to go to the last day of the contract,” he said. “If now we sign a four-year contract, we need to think to arrive there. And we signed the contract because we really believe that we are going to be four years there.”

But he also acknowledged the obvious: “Nothing is sure — in life, but it’s less in fútbol.”

“Four years’ time is a really long period,” he said. “You never know what can happen in soccer. Today, people really love you, but in X time maybe that feeling changes.”

Another big question is how much time Pochettino and his staff, all of which is also returning, will spend in the United States vs. Europe. They were all based in the latter for the first term, usually only crossing the Atlantic for national team game windows.

He isn’t alone on that count, to be sure. Argentina manager Lionel Scaloni has reached two straight World Cup finals with a home base in Spain, and Canada manager Jesse Marsch doesn’t live full-time in that country.

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But there are some optics in the U.S. that aren’t the same in other countries.

This summer’s long-term impact on growing soccer’s fan base here is still to be seen. The NFL and NBA will no doubt take back their pieces of the spotlight in the coming months (we’ll see about baseball’s piece if there’s a work stoppage), so a U.S. coach might have to do more publicity work than was needed heading into a tournament on home turf.

There are also the practical benefits of the senior national team manager spending more time at the national training center in suburban Atlanta, where many youth national team coaches and backroom staff are based.

Put it all together, and it would be nice to see Pochettino and his staff be public presences at more MLS games, and at some of the big youth clubs and events around the country.

» READ MORE: Why U.S. Soccer’s new national training center will matter long after the World Cup

“Now [that] we finish with the negotiation and the agreement, I will consider it to move to the USA, of course, because that process is four years,” Pochettino said. “I think I have no problem, and all the coaching staff, we don’t have any problem to move to the USA.”

That felt significant to hear.

The last big question goes to U.S. Soccer’s leadership — including the big-money private equity donors who are once again paying Pochettino’s salary. By rehiring him, they are sending an implicit signal that he is better than any American candidate. Do they actually believe that?

None of the top brass were made available to take questions from the media before Monday’s announcement. There were only statements from president Cindy Cone and CEO JT Batson. (Nor have they said anything about the scandal around FIFA president Gianni Infantino, despite repeated requests for comment.)

“Mauricio has built a culture where players trust the group, trust the process and trust each other,” Cone said. “That culture, and the staff who helped build it, are exactly what we want to continue investing in for the men’s national team now and for the future. We are also excited about the experience and perspective Mauricio and his staff can bring across U.S. Soccer as we strengthen our pathways and seek to impact the broader soccer landscape in the United States.”

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Batson said: “We know we have a lot of work to do to achieve our clear ambitions, including competing to win men’s World Cups and having soccer become the most played sport in every community.” And he was pretty clear that he believes Pochettino is the person for the job.

“I couldn’t be more excited that Mauricio and team are committed to partnering with all of us to do the hard work to bring those ambitions to life,” he said.