U.S. Soccer offers Pochettino contract extension through 2030 World Cup

Head coach Mauricio Pochettino of the United States talks to the media during a press conference. (Jamie Squire / Getty Images)

By Paul Tenorio June 26, 2026 — 3:55 PM EDT | Updated

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Offering a four-year extension to Mauricio Pochettino as coach of the U.S. men's national team just before this World Cup made a lot of sense for U.S. Soccer.

There was almost an obligation for the federation to signal to Pochettino not only that it wanted to keep him around, but that it believed in his approach to the job, his methods, and the progress it was achieving. Letting him enter the World Cup as a lame-duck coach without a contract offer could easily have been perceived as an insult, or an implicit impending break-up, for Pochettino and his staff.

While it is not necessarily a surprise that this happened — as The Athletic reported exclusively on Friday — it also symbolized a vital step toward a critical long-term goal.

Pochettino's biggest impact within the U.S. men's national team was changing the culture and mindset of the program. Each national-team call-up had more value. Players' roles in the team were no longer guaranteed. It forced every single player in the pool to reckon with how much wearing the badge meant to them. And every single player in the pool believed they had a chance to make an impact in a U.S. jersey.

When I sat with Pochettino earlier this month at the team hotel in Southern California, I asked if he believed that would be his long-term legacy — that he re-instilled a mentality the federation had let slip away: the value of the badge, and not taking your spot in the national team for granted.

Pochettino disrupted what had become too casual of an approach to the national team, one that does not exist anywhere else in the world. Turning down call-ups in Argentina, England, or Germany is not a thing — at least not one that comes without long-term ramifications for that player.

"I think that's fundamental because it raises the level of everyone. The Paraguay game showed that the talent exists. And when resources are distributed and the balance of power is leveled out — in a country this big, with an organization as significant as U.S. Soccer — when everyone operates at their best within their respective area, we are a very strong force. That was proven."

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— Mauricio Pochettino

U.S. Soccer's task coming out of this World Cup was to ensure that whoever came next to coach the U.S. team was able to carry that mentality forward. It needed a profile as big as Pochettino because it needed someone with enough weight to institute those same simple standards. Someone who remained the most famous footballing personality in the room.

Pochettino could sell his approach, even when it did not make him the most popular person in the room, because his experience dictated that he could. Every single player in the U.S. locker room understood that Pochettino had coached the likes of Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappé, and Neymar. That he had taken a team to a Champions League final. That experience allowed him to take a my-way-or-the-highway approach.

Whoever comes next needs to have the personality to carry that legacy forward. Because reinstating the mentality around the national team was critical. This was not a new identity around the U.S. men's national team. Listen to Clint Dempsey talk about what he used to do in order to get on the field for the national team.

"I'm someone who's bled for this country. I broke my nose playing for this country. I've come back from two heart procedures."

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— Clint Dempsey, on Fox