By Luke Essig, Guest Writer
Last week, the United States Men’s National Soccer Team unveiled their new manager, Mauricio Pochettino. This comes after a brutal four-year stint under former head coach Gregg Berhalter, during which the United States endured some of their most dramatic years.
Pochettino has coached at some of the highest levels of European football throughout his career. He managed Chelsea F.C. in the British Premier League and Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) in the French Ligue One. He was at his managing peak while he was in Paris from 2021 to 2023, averaging 2.2 out of three possible points per game.
Mauricio Pochettino is coming from Chelsea F.C. in the British Premier League, where he helped the team rank sixth last season, a seven place increase from the 2022-23 season.
Gregg Berhalter managed the U.S. Men’s National Soccer Team for 74 games, but made controversial calls along the way, especially when it came to rosters for various tournaments.
He led PSG to winning the league in 2022 and two others trophies the year prior. While Pochettino is a good change from Berhalter, Pochettino also has his flaws. He struggled as the manager of Chelsea, only getting them to a sixth place finish for the 2023-24 season. Pochettino inherited a rough Chelsea squad, but he managed to bring them up seven places from the previous season.
Fans are most excited for the managerial change because of the drama that surrounded former head coach Berhalter. Before the 2022 World Cup, Berhalter made questionable decisions in regard to his squad selection that left fans questioning his decisions. This included not playing star attacking midfielder/winger Gio Reyna because of a decades-old feud Berhalter had with Reyna’s father, American soccer player Claudio Reyna. The brawl had fans calling for Berhalter’s contract not to be extended after the World Cup. However, after an unsuccessful new coaching search, he resigned shortly after.
That was until last summer, when the U.S. Soccer Federation backed Berhalter going into this year’s Copa America tournament, where the United States did not make it out of the group stage. Everyone thought that the U.S. had a strong roster going into the tournament that could beat teams like Paraguay and Canada, who were ranked below the U.S. in the FIFA rankings. Berhalter was originally re-signed to stay on as head coach through the 2026 FIFA World Cup, but he was let go from his position after the team was unsuccessful at the Copa America Tournament.
Now, a new era for United States soccer begins. Pochettino’s contract lasts through the 2026 World Cup, and fans hope that he can lead the team to more success than Berhalter did. While the shoes to fill are not big, fans know the potential of this squad and have extremely high expectations for Pochettino.