Mauricio_pochettino_-_asn_top_-_chelsea
USMNT analysis

Thoughts on Pochettino's hire, the USMNT's draw with New Zealand, & moving forward

There is a lot ot talk about now with the USMNT, and ASN's Brian Sciaretta tackles it all. From the finally official hiring of Mauricio Pochettino, the 1-1 draw with New Zealand, the recent camp, and moving forward. 
BY Brian Sciaretta Posted
September 11, 2024
8:00 AM

THE UNITED STATES men’s national team had a wild day where they finally announced Mauricio Pochettino as the new head coach while also wrapping up forgetful international window with a 1-1 friendly draw against New Zealand in Cincinnati.

With the team in such a transitional period, it’s hard to think of a reason why these past two games will be remembered. Neither performance was good as the U.S. team was unable to defeat either Canada or New Zealand at home. This comes after a Copa America where the U.S. team was placed into an easy group and did not get out, also while playing at home.

The question now becomes whether Pochettino can fix it?

Here are some thoughts on the Pochettino news followed by thoughts on the New Zealand game and the overall window.

Pochettino named USMNT coach

For U.S. Soccer, yet another cycle begins with a uneasy transition, typically with the federation attempting to keep a coach into the cycle and it not working out. Gregg Berhalter’s first cycle would have been remembered positively if it ended after Qatar. But the process was bungled, first with Reyna-gate followed by nine months under two interim hires. Then Berhalter took control for a year with poor results.

But this is not new. Jurgen Klinsmann’s second cycle was terrible, and he was eventually fired after a poor start to World Cup qualifying. Bob Bradley’s second cycle lasted a year until a loss in the 2011 Gold Cup final. Bruce Arena’s second cycle ended after the team failed to advance out of the group stage (the only World Cup since 1998 where the team participated and failed to get out of the group). But following Arena’s ouster, the program didn’t play for seven months in a failed attempt to hire Klinsmann.

The last time the federation had a new coach to start the cycle on time was Arena in 1998.

That’s actually good news. Because for all of the false starts the national team has had out of the gate to start cycles or the lack of a full cycle national team coaches have had, the team has advanced out of the group stage at the World Cup in four of the last five times where it has participated.

Mauricio Pochettino will now lead the U.S. team in one of the shortest contracts a full-time national team head coach has had (Arena’s cycle after Klinsmann would have been shorter, even if the team qualified for Russia). But unlike that cycle, Pochettino will not have to participate in World Cup qualifying. Arena had to shoot from the hip to try to build a team. Pochettino has games like the Nations League and Gold Cup next summer, but nothing urgent. It’s all about the World Cup.

“Amazing,” interim head coach Mikey Varas said about Pochettino’s hire on Tuesday night. “I think everybody is excited for this next chapter. He brings tremendous quality. I don't think I can say anything more about his level or experience. It's a massive moment for U.S. Soccer and for all the players.”

There are four big areas where Pochettino will affect the U.S. team as the coach

  • Team mentality
  • Tactics
  • Which players are called up?
  • Public enthusiasm

 

Less tactical, more mental

 

There were a lot of problems with the Klinsmann-era of the USMNT. The tactics were always a mess, but at least in the first cycle the team played hard. In the second cycle, eventually the effort faded as the discontent rose. Combined with the poor tactics, the team eventually crumbled.

Berhalter’s had players playing in their best positions, aside from a few exceptions where the player kept switching positions for his club (Tim Weah, Haji Wright, etc). His rosters typically included 90% of the players which fans and the media agreed (and such disagreements fell to backups). He built his teams on players like Pulisic, McKennie, Adams, Robinson, Dest, Weah, and Musah.

The problem for Berhalter is that things got stale. The 2024 Copa America team likely would have lost to the 2022 World Cup team despite the same players, same tactics, same message.

Flash forward to today where Pochettino now inherits a team that needs a set of fresh eyes running it. Teams typically get a “boost” when a new coach comes into the fold. It’s easy to see that happening with the USMNT. But will the bump turn into a meaningful surge heading into the World Cup?

It’s going to come down to intensity and an ability to execute and finish chances. But the insufficient intensity has been a problem since the World Cup. The good news is that the players were once good at this. But can they get it back?

“Big news for the program, of course,” Christian Pulisic said of the Pochettino hire. “He's a coach with a lot of experience. He's a guy who can come and turn things around here, compete, and start to win. I hope can bring a new winning mentality and a culture within the team - flip a switch for a lot of the guys to take a step up.”

 

Tim Ream said after the loss to Canada on Saturday that intensity is not on the coach, but rather the players. But Pochettino can help foster a better mentality if he can convey to the players that 1) they can be something special under his leadership and 2) that there are consequences if they don’t perform well either for him, or at their clubs.

A raise in the intensity won’t be a cure-all for this team. But it will at least raise the potential (and the floor).

 
Player pool changes

 

A big question for Pochettino, of course, will be which players he identifies to be part of his team. Of course, he will have his own ideas on the existing pool and it’s hard to envision that his call-ups will look identical to the call-ups we have seen under Gregg Berhalter.

This will be fascinating to watch.

My take is that the team has fewer “untouchables” than most fans or media members believe. Christian Pulisic and Antonee Robinson are the only starters I see as locks. Everyone else has questions.

There are so many players either injured or struggling for minutes (or both): Gio Reyna, Tyler Adams, Weston McKennie, Sergino Dest, Matt Turner. Are we sure they will be in a great place at the club level in the future?

 

Then there are players who have played well at the club level but haven’t yet for the USMNT: Malik Tillman, Mark McKenzie, Johnny Cardoso, Chris Richards. How much patience will Pochettino have for these players to see their club situation transform to the USMNT?

There are so many players who were key to the USMNT that are not in good club situations. How much does Pochettino factor that into his plans? How much does he trust a player like Reyna who has not played more than 650 minutes in any of his past three club seasons and is off to a bad start in 2024/25?

Then at what point does he look for players who have been on the outside of the USMNT picture, but who have been playing well?

 

Building public enthusiasm

 

The public enthusiasm for the USMNT has not been great and the optimism for the team among causal and fervent supporters has been lacking. It’s also been reflective in attendance in home friendlies apart from Mexico.

 

For those that remember when the United States hosted the 1994 World Cup, it helped build enthusiasm for both the sport and the USMNT for the first time in many people’s lives. The 2026 tournament can be used to even push the game further. But building enthusiasm for the USMNT requires a likeable and popular coach who can then send the team off to a better future following the 2026 World Cup.

 

Big take: It’s on the players now

 

Finally, another important takeaway from the Pochettino hire is that the fate of the team is now on the players. When the team underperformed under Berhalter, many of the players got a pass and the blame went on the coach.

Now it’s on the players. This doesn’t mean Pochettino will be free from criticism, but he will get a very, very long honeymoon. But success and failure of the team will be on the players now. If they succeed in 2026 with a run to the quarterfinal (while beating top teams in their path) they can be remembered as among the best, or maybe the best, U.S team ever. If the team fails, then it they will be seen as vastly overrated.

Pochettino takes debate over where the finger-pointing should go and puts the burden on the players. That is a good thing. It should always be about the players.

 

 

USMNT draws New Zealand

 

On Tuesday night, the USMNT played New Zealand to a 1-1 draw. The result will most likely be the answer to an obscure trivia question years from now. That is the only way it will be remembered.

Interim head coach Mikey Varas made several changes to the lineup compared with the Canada game. Marlon Fossey earned his first cap at right back. Ricardo Pepi and Folarin Balogun started together with Haji Wright up top. Haji Wright entered the starting lineup with Brenden Aaronson. Mark McKenzie replaced Tim Ream in central defense while Chris Richards continued to start, but was given the armband.

The USMNT believed it took the lead in the first half on a goal from Pepi (assisted by Fossey) but it was later called off through VAR due to a foul in the build-up.

It wasn’t until the second half when the U.S. team broke through as Christian Pulisic replaced Haji Wright in the 57th minute and scored in the 69th on a nice build-up play from Aidan Morris, Pepi, Fossey, and Balogun. 

 

But then two minutes before stoppage time, New Zealand equalized on a fluky goal. After a long ball was played into the American third, Caleb Wiley hit a bad header back to Turner. McKenzie attempted to clear it, but hit it into New Zealand attacker Ben Waine instead. The ball ricocheted off Waine and over Turner for the equalizer.

Since the game was secondary to the news of Pochettino’s hire, here a just a few notes on the game.

Intensity was good, finishing wasn’t: The U.S. team played better and with an acceptable level of energy compared with the Canada game. They just lacked quality finishing, which will be up to the team’s attackers to improve. But with poor finishing, they left themselves vulnerable to a fluke or an mistake.

It was much better than the Canada game,” Brenden Aaronson said afterward. “The intensity was the starting point, and I think we brought it. Now it's just about being clinical, and we just weren't clinical enough on the day. Sometimes that happens.”

Varas urges players to build from this: Varas knows his tenure as an interim manager will be just this camp, but he wants them to take the urgency they displayed against New Zealand and use it going forward. But it’s up to the players to adopt this mindset every single day. He said this approach in this camp was more important than tactics.

“We wanted to show everybody a different mentality,” Varas said. “The boys did that. It feels like a loss because you're dominating a game, and then they tied it in the last two minutes. But, those things happen, honestly.”

“Tonight wasn't about tactics,” Varas added. “It wasn't about that. It was about, sprinting, fighting, showing everyone our American values of hard work and fight - always. That step is an important one for success, but habits don't change overnight.  Now it's about doing it everyday for their club. Waking up everyday and want to be great. Wake up everyday, train like an animal. In the next camp, continue going. The trainings were good in this camp. Really good. They showed up. We know what happened in the first game but now they showed up. Now it's doing it over and over again.”

Tough camp for Musah: Yunus Musah had an opportunity in this camp to establish himself more among his teammates. While he will soon have a cleans slate under Pochettino, the Argentine manager will be looking at these games. But Musah right now does not appear to be in synch with his teammates. Whether that is something Pochettino can fix, or whether Pochettino believes the solution is better with other players instead of Musah, it remains to be seen. On another note, the same could be said of Johnny Cardoso, who didn’t have a good camp and leaves everyone waiting to see his club form translate internationally.

Schulte takes step up: the goalkeeping position is not good right now with the U.S. national team. Matt Turner is not playing. Ethan Horvath is stuck on a bad team in the Championship. With that, we saw Patrick Schulte get the nod against Canada followed by Turner against New Zealand. If Pochettino is looking to build off recent history for club and country, it’s hard to think Schulte isn’t in a good position right now.

Forward hierarchy remains up for grabs: Josh Sargent picked up a knock and didn’t play. That was unfortunate given his recent form. Among  the other options of Balogun, Pepi, and Wright, we are still just as unresolved over the pecking order as before.  

Aidan Morris had a good camp: Varas said Morris was “the boss” of the midfield against New Zealand. The complement was justified. Combined with his outing off the bench against Canada, Morris looks in great position moving forward – especially with so many other midfield options not in a great place right now. If Morris can continue to build off his great year which has brought him to Middlesbrough, he can compete for a bigger role under Pochettino.

Fossey’s nice debut: Marlon Fossey was once a good prospect for the U.S. team. But he has had a wave of injuries (which began in the build-up to the 2017 U-20 World Cup) which jeopardized his future. But only recently returned to full health the past two years in Belgium. On Tuesday he made his USMNT debut and looked solid. But competition for time will be tough. Sergino Dest will return to in 2025. Joe Scally is still in the picture. Bryan Reynolds is also playing well in Belgium. Regardless, he made a good case to be in the picture. Where that is, however, remains to be seen.

Other USMNT News



Gio Reyna is out weeks: Gio Reyna trained for a few weeks at the USMNT camp start in Kansas City but was sent home with a groin injury. On Wednesday, we learned that he will miss weeks and is not happy about it. He simply cannot catch a break these days and he hasn't played regularly in years. He needs to turn things around quickly or else he is starting at a fourth straight sub-1000 minute season. He might not find call-ups as easy to come by under Pochettino. 


Cannon to Colorado: Tom Bogert was the first to report the news, but ASN has also heard that Reggie Cannon has signed for the Colorado Rapids. He's had an awful year in his career where he terminated his contract early with Boavista, didn't play much for Queens Park Rangers, was sued by Boavista for terminating his contract unilaterally, lost the case, has his contract with QPR terminated by mutual consent, and was left a free agent. Now he's signed for the Colorado Rapids.



Cannon hasn't been with the USMNT since before the 2022 World Cup and isn't close these days. But at least now he can play and start a climb. 




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