In September 2024, Pochettino was tasked with the challenge of leading the United States to a World Cup that it will co-host with Canada and Mexico.
However, not everything has been a bed of roses.
Pochettino has won 11 of his 20 games in charge and defeats to the likes of Mexico (twice), Panama, Canada, Turkey, Switzerland and South Korea have drawn criticism.
He has also reportedly faced issues related to changing culture., external and the mentality of his players and was not happy to arrive at home games only to discover that the away supporters were significantly outnumbered, external American fans.
And all this has come while he acclimatizes to the different demands placed on an international boss.
“The intensity is completely different because you have to arrive for a few days to prepare for the game and play, prepare another game, play and come back,” Pochettino continued.
“After November, we will have three months until March to prepare for another match. In a national team you are desperate to train the players.
“You feel empty because after the second game you can’t have communication and you can’t continue working to improve things.”
The United States has only reached the quarterfinals of a World Cup once, in 2002.
MLS was formed in 1995, a year after the United States hosted the 1994 World Cup, and has improved and grown significantly since then, with the arrival of Lionel Messi in 2023 evidence of a changing landscape.
“I think players like Messi are helping children, not only when children want to play basketball or American football or baseball, now they also want to play soccer,” added Pochettino, who emphasized that his employers have told him to use the term football instead of soccer to avoid public confusion.
And he added: “The motivation is enormous. Sometimes you feel that people don’t understand too much.”
“You find some coaches who say, ‘Oh, you know, you need to know the culture of the American player.’ I say, ‘No, I know the most important thing: the culture of soccer and soccer. We need to translate the culture of soccer to the American player.’
“I think after a year we are making great progress. We are building [ideas] with people that the language of football is one and it doesn’t matter if you are American, Brazilian or English. Our football is [to] Compete the way you need to compete, if you want to win.”
