Pochettino contract offer a smart, necessary step for U.S. Soccer, no matter the outcome

Offering a four-year extension to Mauricio Pochettino as coach of the U.S. men’s national team just before this World Cup made a lot of sense for U.S. Soccer.

There was almost an obligation for the federation to signal to Pochettino not only that it wanted to keep him around, but that it believed in his approach to the job, his methods and the progress it was achieving. Letting him enter the World Cup as a lame duck coach without a contract offer could easily have been perceived as an insult, or an implicit impending break-up, for Pochettino and his staff.

The Athletic reported the news exclusively on Friday and while it may appear a logical step, it also symbolized a vital step toward a critical long-term goal.

Pochettino’s biggest impact within the U.S. men’s national team was changing the culture and mindset of the program. Each national-team call-up had more value. Players’ role in the team was no longer guaranteed. It forced every single player in the pool to reckon with how much wearing the badge meant to them. And every single player in the pool believed they had a chance to make an impact in a U.S. jersey.

When I sat with Pochettino earlier this month at the team hotel in Southern California, I asked if he believed that would be his long-term legacy. That he re-instilled a mentality the federation had let slip away: the value of the badge, and not taking your spot in the national team for granted.

Pochettino disrupted what had become too casual of an approach to the national team, one that doesn’t exist anywhere else in the world. Turning down call-ups in Argentina or England or Germany isn’t a thing — at least not one that comes without long-term ramifications for that player.

“I think that’s fundamental because it raises the level of everyone,” Pochettino told me. “The Paraguay game showed that the talent exists. And when resources are distributed and the balance of power is leveled out — in a country this big, with an organization as significant as U.S. Soccer — when everyone operates at their best within their respective area, we are a very strong force. That was proven.”

U.S. Soccer’s task coming out of this World Cup was to ensure that whoever came next to coach the U.S. team was able to carry that mentality forward. It needed a profile as big as Pochettino because it needed someone with enough weight to institute those same simple standards. Someone who remained the most famous footballing personality in the room.

Pochettino could sell his approach, even when it didn’t make him the most popular person in the room, because his experience dictated that he could. Every single player in the U.S. locker room understood that Pochettino had coached the likes of Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappe and Neymar. That he had taken a team to a Champions League final. That experience allowed him to take a my-way-or-the-highway approach.

Whoever comes next needs to have the personality to carry that legacy forward. Because reinstating the mentality around the national team was critical. This wasn’t a new identity around the U.S. men’s national team. Listen to Clint Dempsey talk about what he used to do in order to get on the field for the national team.

“I’m someone who’s bled for this country,” Dempsey said on Fox. “I broke my nose playing for this country. I’ve come back from two heart procedures and played for this country.”

In another interview with the Unfiltered podcast, the U.S. legend made it even more clear: “If you’re going to bury me, bury me in a national team jersey.”

Keeping Pochettino is certainly one path toward extending the legacy of the culture he has pushed to instill in this program. But first, there’s an element of risk as this tournament plays out. If the U.S. loses to Bosnia and Herzegovina on July 1, it would become a much tougher decision. The narrative around this tournament would flip from success to failure.

And even if the U.S. advances, there are details that will be important to map out, not the least of which is the clear desire Pochettino has to return to coach in the Premier League. He hasn’t been shy about it. He’s said it in multiple interviews.

Does he want to come back? And if so, what does the buyout look like in his contract? U.S. Soccer should make clear that it wants a coach who is all-in on the job for four years.

The most important point is making sure that whoever takes this team forward, whether Pochettino or a new head coach, protects against losing the gains Pochettino made in the last two years. The argument against second-cycle coaches is that it’s human nature to lean on players you trust, who have been through it with you. That it gets tougher to see new players coming through and the value they might add. That all coaches have favorites. U.S. Soccer also hasn’t had a checkered experience with second-cycle coaches, from Bruce Arena in 2006, to Bob Bradley being fired after the 2011 Gold Cup final, to Jurgen Klinsmann’s disastrous 2018 cycle and then Gregg Berhalter’s dismissal after a group-stage exit in the 2024 Copa América.

U.S. Soccer will no doubt believe fighting the instincts that challenge second-cycle coaches is an extension of the idea that Pochettino has worked so hard to dismiss: No one is guaranteed a spot. Whether or not Pochettino and U.S. Soccer reach an agreement, that can be his legacy with this national team.

First, though, Pochettino needs to demonstrate to the players and the public that his approach was the right one. That hinges on getting a win against Bosnia next week.