MIAMI:
Argentine Mauricio Pochettino has been named as the brand new head coach of the US nationwide group, the US Soccer federation introduced on Tuesday.
The previous Tottenham Hotspur, Chelsea, Paris Saint-Germain and Espanyol coach replaces American Gregg Berhalter who was fired in July after a disappointing Copa America marketing campaign.
Pochettino is the most important title coach to take cost of the USA and the primary foreigner since German Juergen Klinsmann, who was sacked in 2016.
Pochettino, 52, has been unemployed since his abrupt departure in Might from Chelsea after only a single season in cost.
No element of the contract size was offered by US Soccer however Pochettino will lead the group within the 2026 World Cup which the USA is co-hosting with Mexico and Canada.
“Mauricio is a serial winner with a deep ardour for participant growth and a confirmed means to construct cohesive and aggressive groups,” stated Matt Crocker, US Soccer’s sporting director who led the seek for a brand new coach.
“His monitor report speaks for itself, and I’m assured that he’s the correct option to harness the immense potential inside our proficient squad,” he added.
Pochettino has a monitor report of selling younger expertise at Southampton, Tottenham and Spanish facet Espanyol earlier in his managerial profession.
At Tottenham, Pochettino performed a key function in shaping the profession of England captain Harry Kane and he turned Spurs into common top-four finishers whereas additionally guiding them to the Champions League closing in 2019.
The Argentine, who coached stars corresponding to Lionel Messi, Neymar and Kylian Mbappe in Paris, stated he was relishing the prospect to progress the US group.
“The choice to hitch US Soccer wasn’t nearly soccer for me; it is in regards to the journey that this group and this nation are on,” Pochettino stated.
“The vitality, the fervour, and the starvation to attain one thing actually historic right here – these are the issues that impressed me. The chance to steer the US males’s nationwide group, in entrance of followers who’re simply as passionate because the gamers, is one thing I could not cross up.
“I see a bunch of gamers filled with expertise and potential, and collectively, we’ll construct one thing particular that the entire nation could be pleased with,” he added.
Pochettino inherits a comparatively younger group which reached the last-16 on the final World Cup in Qatar in 2022, dropping to the Netherlands within the knockout section.
However hopes {that a} younger squad might progress in direction of 2026 have been broken by a poor Copa America marketing campaign in July, when the group didn’t advance out of the group stage ending with only one win from three video games after losses to Panama and Uruguay.