He raised the standard of U.S. Soccer. It's the first thing that you hear from multiple people as Mauricio Pochettino prepares to oversee his final two games. The reality is more mixed. His 1.91 points per game are the third-best of any manager to oversee the United States men's national team for more than 10 games, behind Gregg Berhalter and Bruce Arena, but he's also the first permanent manager since Steve Sampson to not win a Concacaf title, with the USMNT falling short in both the Concacaf Nations League and the Concacaf Gold Cup. That said, it's hard to say that he isn't leaving the USMNT in a better place than he found it, although some credit should be given to U.S. Soccer and former sporting director Matt Crocker for that. It's a conflicted legacy that Pochettino will leave, but it's also one that can't be fully realized until after he oversees his final two matches against Haiti.
If his departure overshadows the performance on the pitch, leaving the USMNT without a chance to win the Concacaf Nations League final for a second consecutive tournament, that will undo a significant portion of the good that he has accomplished by bringing along younger members of the squad. But as he prepares to depart, the USMNT exited the World Cup in the round of 16, the same stage as in 2022, and questions remain about how they'll hold up against the world's top teams. With the 2028 Olympics coming up and a new training facility that allows space for the youth and senior sides to train in the same place, alongside the improvement in U.S. youth development thanks to MLS Next and MLS Next Pro, the USMNT were going to be in a good place no matter who took over at this stage, which is also what makes it critical to look at what comes next.
Haiti vs. USMNT: How to watch
Date: Saturday, Nov. 14 | Time: 4:30 p.m. ET
Location: Nu Stadium -- Miami, Florida
TV: TNT | Live stream: HBO Max
Odds: Haiti +750; Draw +440; USMNT -350
Why the USMNT job remains attractive
"Our ambition is high, and we believe that this is one of the great coaching jobs in the world. We have an experienced group of players; we've got a dynamic young pool of players," U.S. Soccer CEO JT Batson said. "Last night, Mauricio, staff, and most of the men's team watched our U-20s play here at the national training center, which was a pretty special moment. We publicly shared our ambition is to be in a position where we're winning major tournaments, including World Cups, and we want to make sure that we're attracting leaders who help us do just that. We know from our experience that great leaders want to work with great people, and great leaders want to make an impact on things that matter, and we think that we've proven at U.S. Soccer that we're a great place to work and we're a great place to make legacy-defining impact."
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U.S. Soccer is still in talks to hire a director of soccer who will work with the incoming head coach, United States women's national team coach Emma Hayes and the rest of the U.S. Soccer staff to shape the vision of American soccer. The sport is growing rapidly here, which is what makes this such an attractive job even without the shine of hosting a men's World Cup on home soil to add to the sales pitch. Listening to Batson, while BJ Callaghan may be one of the top American fits for the role, you can easily see why the USMNT would like to bring in Pep Guardiola if they can, and there's a sales pitch there to at least get top targets to pick up the phone.
Pochettino's incomplete legacy
This doesn't diminish what Pochettino has done while leading the national team, but each manager has made his mark on American soccer in his own way. Jurgen Klinsmann added legitimacy to the USMNT role and ushered in an era of German Americans who led the squad to new heights. Gregg Berhalter came in, raised the floor for the squad, did excellent work with dual-national recruitment and led the squad out of its group at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. Sure, in hindsight, things should've ended there, with U.S. Soccer moving in a different direction after the World Cup, but the players also wanted continuity.
You can make the same argument that Pochettino maybe shouldn't have been signed to a new contract following the World Cup, but even he seemed to believe that an opportunity such as Manchester United wouldn't have come this quickly. If he were leaving in 2028, after Steve Cherundolo led the U.S. U-23s on a strong run in the Olympics, the departure wouldn't be as bittersweet as this one, which feels like a job left unfinished by the Argentine.
Carrying Poch's standard forward
Pochettino did add confidence, and to hear players like Sebastian Berhalter, Cavan Sullivan, Alex Freeman and Neil Pierre, among others, tell it, when Pochettino was at his best, this team would press anyone off the pitch. Now the onus is on the players to take that forward under new management.
"I think Poch definitely raised the standard since he's been in charge. I think you guys have seen that, just the intensity of training, how we approach games, he's changed our way of thinking as players, from calling the friendlies that we have in certain camps official games, not official games. He wants us to just be of a mindset to go out there and win," Folarin Balogun said.
"He's laid the foundation, and I think we, as players, have that ownership to not just do that because Poch was in charge; I think we have the ownership as players to carry that out because we know the standard," he continued. "So yeah, I think that's the benefit of having a top coach, and I'm sure you know whether he's here or not, the US will look to replace him with another top coach."
A tearful Pochettino and the disappointed players show that this didn't end the way anyone would've wanted, but that doesn't mean there isn't plenty of good to build on for whoever comes next. With Cherundolo leading the December camp, there's plenty of time to ensure that the next hire is the right one, but now that U.S. Soccer has shown that it can recruit a coach of Pochettino's caliber, there's no reason to stop there. Having a coach coveted by others is a product of success, but having a system that can move past that proves things are sustainable.
The word "sustainable" hasn't been one that U.S. Soccer has been able to use as of late, as one thing going wrong could lead to a spiral, but with benefactors, facilities and youth all at once, it's time to build a future that isn't dependent on who the coach is, because that's what will lead to winning a World Cup.
