FAYETTEVILLE, Ga. – The U.S. men’s national team are opting to focus on the present with their World Cup opener just 16 days away, even as reporting suggests head coach Mauricio Pochettino has his next move lined up.
Pochettino reportedly met with AC Milan executives last week about the coaching vacancy at the club, days before he arrived in the U.S. to kick off the team’s preparations for a World Cup on home soil. U.S. Soccer CEO J.T. Batson did not confirm that the meeting took place but he did say that Pochettino and his coaching staff have been transparent about the interest they have received since they first engaged in conversations with him in the summer of 2024.
“Since the start of this project, when we first met Barcelona, Mauricio and [assistant coach] Jesus [Perez] and team have been very excited about the summer and the long-term of U.S. Soccer and we knew that the focus had to be this summer and we’ve been doing that,” Batson told members of the media on Thursday, with Pochettino’s latest training session as his backdrop.
“Even when we first met a couple summers ago, there were lots of other people interested in having Mauricio and team join,” Batson continued. “He had standing offers from other places to come. He wanted to be here. He’s a big believer in what we’re doing at U.S. Soccer. He’s a big believer in soccer in America and he’s a big believer in this men’s team and so, throughout this entire process, when you have top-class talent, whether it’s salespeople, whether it’s marketing people or whether it’s coaches, other organizations want them and throughout this, Mauricio and team have been incredibly transparent. They’ve been great partners and are, of course, excited about the summer … There’s been a longer list of outreach than what has even been reported and so they’ve been great about that.”
The players have not been distracted by the news, either, accepting it as part of the cadence of the global game – World Cup year or not.
“Our focus has to be here on the World Cup. I think, as any manager or player – there’s guys in contract situations right now that have to figure out what to do either before the World Cup, after the World Cup,” Tyler Adams said. “It’s going to be the same deal with coaches. He’s fully present with us every single day, finding ways to make us better. Focusing on the trainings.”
Tim Weah echoed Adams’ statement.
“No, it doesn’t bother us,” he said. “I’m someone that lives in present day, right now he’s here and we’re working with him. It’s an amazing feeling, having such a prestigious coach coaching us. When you want to reach the highest level, you want to get coached by the highest level of coaches, so it’s been amazing. Whatever he decides to do after is what the coach decides. We’re here to support him, he’s here to support us and we’re just living in the present and making sure that we do our job.”
Batson said Pochettino has not only been focused on the present but has reserved some of his attention for the USMNT’s future, whether he’s here or not.
“One of the things that, when I first saw the reporting this morning, someone reminded me that Mauricio, Jesus, [U.S. Soccer COO] Dan [Helfrich] and I were actually the last people to leave the national training center last night and the session was all about the Olympics, was about our youth teams, about coaching education,” Batson said. “They have been very focused on the long-term success of the federation but we also know we’ve got to focus on the summer and they’re excited about doing that.”
U.S. Soccer, though, does have some amount of planning in place in case Pochettino and his coaching staff depart after the World Cup – or if any high-ranking member of the federation does, for that matter.
“We actually, on a monthly basis, have a succession planning session for all of our coaches across all of our teams and so as a part of that, we have plans for renewals,” Batson said. “We have plans for interims and we have plans for replacements because you never know what’s going to happen. It’s a global sport, lots going on and so that’s a standard part of us growing up as U.S. Soccer.”
That includes the role of sporting director which is now vacant after Matt Crocker’s departure last month, the Wales native reportedly to join the Saudi Arabian Football Federation in a similar role. Batson teased that U.S. Soccer might divide the responsibilities in looking for Crocker’s successor, potentially having different people oversee the men’s and women’s national team programs.
“The men’s and women’s soccer ecosystems in the U.S. and around the world are different and so we need to think about how we’re structured to reflect that,” Batson said. “[We have] a core belief that the success of the men’s national team program, the women’s national team program, is directly interrelated with the success of the American soccer ecosystem and so as we think about our ability to support and engage with the clubs, with the leagues, that’ll be central to how we organize ourselves going forward and we also recognize that we’ve got a great bench. We have a lot of great talent that’s joined the organization over the last couple of years and we’ve got a clear strategy around how we ultimately win. Just for clarity. I would not expect a like-for-like sporting director going forward and we are very active in sort of both planning and executing that new structure.”
Pochettino initially joined the USMNT in the fall of 2024 in a deal that is set to expire at the conclusion of the World Cup.
