Former Chelsea and Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino a top target to become USMNT coach: sources

Former Tottenham and Chelsea head coach Mauricio Pochettino is a top target for the U.S. men’s national team opening, according to multiple sources briefed on the coaching search.

The sources said the federation was still considering several candidates last week, but Pochettino is seen by some as the favorite in the group, and US Soccer is engaged in talks with his camp.

US Soccer has declined to comment on specific candidates for the position.

Hiring Pochettino would be seen as a huge leap, especially at a time when the American fanbase is looking for a big-name manager. The Argentinian has never managed a national team, but has had great success at club level. He guided Southampton to an eighth-place finish in the Premier League in 2013, achieved record finishes with Spurs, including a Champions League final in 2019, and secured a Ligue 1 title with Paris Saint-Germain. Most recently, Pochettino led Chelsea to a sixth-place finish and European qualification before leaving at the end of the 2023/24 season.

American football club sporting director Matt Crocker and Pochettino overlapped during the Argentine coach’s year at Southampton. Crocker managed Southampton’s academy at the time and left in November 2013 to join the Football Association.

Argentinian outlet Olé previously reported that Pochettino was a candidate for the job.

While it is possible that US Soccer could make and announce an appointment before September, the federation plans to have former U.S. Under-20 men’s national team coach and current USMNT assistant Mikey Varas lead the senior team in friendlies against Canada and New Zealand. Zeeland on September 7 and 10 respectively, according to sources briefed on the program’s planning.

The USMNT has been without a coach since firing Gregg Berhalter this summer after exiting the group stage in the Copa América. Berhalter served as manager from December 2018 to December 2022, returning the US to the World Cup after failing to qualify for the tournament in 2018, and then again from June 2023 to July 2024.

The US fell flat in the Copa, beating Bolivia in their first group match before losing to Panama after having a man taken off for more than an hour following a red card from winger Tim Weah. The US then lost 1-0 to Uruguay in the group final.

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Pochettino would be the most prominent US coach since Jurgen Klinsmann, a World Cup winner. While Klinsmann coached the German national team and Bayern Munich before taking the American job, his fame came more from his on-field exploits as a player. Pochettino has made a name for himself as a manager, with teams who use positional play to dominate space, but who also like to press and attack the opposition.

The 52-year-old is likely to receive a top-level salary as reports suggest he was one of the highest-paid coaches in the world at PSG and Chelsea. However, Crocker has said the federation will not be limited by financial constraints.

“It’s a really competitive market, salary-wise, and we have to be competitive to get the level of coach that I think can move the program forward in terms of achieving the results we want on the field,” said Crocker. “It’s a priority. It is something we are willing to invest in and we will invest in.”

(Top photo: Darren Walsh/Chelsea FC via Getty Images)