For Mauricio Pochettino, picking the World Cup team was ‘painful’ — and unlike anything in his career
Nothing Pochettino has faced in many years as a club manager equaled the moment when he had to draw a line at exactly 26 players for the World Cup squad.
FAYETTEVILLE, Ga. — Mauricio Pochettino has done a lot of things in his 17 years as a manager, with big-time stops at Spain’s Espanyol, France’s Paris Saint-Germain, and England’s Southampton, Tottenham Hotspur, and Chelsea.
But nothing he faced in any of his 649 games at club level equaled one specific challenge of leading the U.S. men’s national team: the moment he picked the 26-player World Cup roster.
Club teams can have big squads, especially European giants that are flush with cash. A national team, though, must draw a sharp limit to step on to the sport’s biggest stage.
When Pochettino sat down on Thursday to talk with a small group of media at U.S. Soccer’s national training center, it was his first time commenting since the spectacle of the TV show where the World Cup roster was confirmed.
So there was room for bigger questions, and this was one of them: just what did it feel like to make that final decision? And how different was it from anything else he has done?
“Yes, I discovered it one week ago,” he said. “And it’s so painful. It’s so difficult.”
He paused for a moment, as the words sank in for him and everyone in the room.
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“Because when you are in a club, OK, if you are not in the squad for tomorrow, for the next week you can have the possibility,” he continued. “But when you aren’t on a [World Cup] roster, you have to wait four years more. And for me, that is the worst thing.”
Pochettino lived it three times as a player, falling short of Argentina’s 1994 and 1998 World Cup squads before finally making the 2002 team. But it was a different feeling to inflict the decision on the players he is entrusted to lead.
This was a key factor in his decision to bring just the World Cup squad to the pre-tournament training camp, instead of a larger squad with cuts before FIFA’s June 1 deadline.
“Oof, I don’t like that,” he said. “I don’t want to bring some guy [to] live that experience, to be in New York, in the announcement of the roster, living the dream — and then you say, ‘Go home.’ I think it’s cruel.”
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Pochettino also reflected on the chapter of soccer’s growth in the United States he has seen while in this job. There’s still a long way to go, but even the sport’s critics might admit these days that it’s more popular than it’s ever been.
“We knew that. It was part of our motivation to come,” he said. “The challenge to try to help, under our vision and our way to see things — to help find a good balance, and the possibility to compete better. I think it’s growing a lot. When we start to watch the under-20, under-19, under-17 teams, I think it’s improving a lot here in the USA, football — soccer — no?”
Along the way, he has taken in the vast scope of players’ backgrounds: from the east coast to the west, the north to the south, cities to suburbs and beyond.
“All have different personality, character, they built their journeys in a different way,” he said. “There was the possibility to see people from New York, New Jersey, Los Angeles, Seattle, San Diego, Austin, Texas, Florida. All were different backgrounds, and you can see the differences between characters and personalities.”
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He especially noted how U.S. players aren’t just “good quality,” but “younger.” That’s another sign of American soccer growing into the world’s game, where no one bats an eye at teenage pros.
“That is the most important now,” Pochettino said. “How we can support them on their journey in order to to keep improving.”
He also offered his view of how players in MLS compare to those in the rest of the world.
“When you start to call players from MLS or [leagues] like this, you start seeing all the differences in the education of soccer,” he said. “But it was good for us, because also it’s a thing that we really love. It’s a good challenge for us, because we really like to help the players to reach their best level.”
Nine nations will compete in five group stage matches this summer, plus two more in a knockout game on July 4. Here’s what you need to know about those countries — and what those fans need to know about Philly. Click here for more.
