Pochettino's Naive Deal with American Football

On the evening of June 26th, at SoFi Stadium, the 93rd minute. Turkish defender Kaan Ayhan struck the ball, and it nestled into the net. 3-2, the US team lost. It was the last touch of the entire match. Mauricio Pochettino walked into the press conference room, his face showing no expression of defeat.

He was angry. Not because they lost.

"So far, no one has come to congratulate us on finishing first in a very difficult group." That was his exact quote into the microphone. Another version was more blunt: "It's a bit sad that you don't congratulate us on winning the group." The US team had just beaten Paraguay 4-1 and Australia 2-0, winning back-to-back World Cup matches for the first time in 96 years. Two big wins, top of the group. Then they lost to Turkey, who were already eliminated, and the head coach opened fire at the press conference—why isn't anyone praising me?

Not angry about losing. Angry that no one cares when they win.

To understand where this fire comes from, you have to go back two years. On September 10, 2024, the US Soccer Federation announced that Pochettino would replace Gregg Berhalter as head coach of the men's team. A salary of $6 million a year, the highest in team history. An Argentine who had coached Tottenham, Paris Saint-Germain, and Chelsea, coming to coach a team that had just been eliminated from the Copa America and whose head coach had just been fired.

It sounded like a gamble. A $6 million bet placed on a football culture that needed to be rebuilt from scratch.

Fast forward to June 24, 2026. Ten days before the World Cup kicked off, Pochettino sat at a media roundtable in an office and said something that gave the US Soccer PR department a headache: "We were too naive when we signed the contract. After signing, we found that the actual situation was worse than we expected." The highest-paid person publicly claimed he was deceived. Tax documents show his contract structure was a base salary of $2.52 million plus a signing bonus of $2.5 million—$5 million in seven months. A $5 million complaint. What exactly was he complaining about? The players' level, the federation's support, or the inertia accumulated by American soccer over decades? He didn't elaborate. But a person who publicly complained about the job being a mess somehow turned it into the best performance by the US men's team in 96 years.

June 12, Inglewood, SoFi Stadium. The US team's World Cup opener against Paraguay. In the 7th minute, Paraguayan player Bobadilla headed the ball into his own net. An own goal. The US led 1-0. It wasn't luck—Pochettino's high press suffocated the opponent's passing lanes, and Bobadilla made a panicked header clearance error. The start of a big win, courtesy of a gift from the opponent.

In the 31st minute, Folarin Balogun made it 2-0. In the 5th minute of first-half stoppage time, Balogun scored another from a penalty. For the first time since 1930, a US player scored two goals in a single World Cup match. Paraguay pulled one back in the 73rd minute. In the 90th minute plus 8 seconds, Giovanni Reyna sealed the 4-1 win with an outside-of-the-foot chip. The US men's team scored four goals in a single World Cup match for the first time in their history. 65% possession, 16 shots, expected goals of 1.34 to 0.47. A statistical domination. But the first goal was an own goal.

June 19, Lumen Field, Seattle, against Australia. In the 11th minute, another own goal. Cameron Burgess headed a clearance into his own net. In the 43rd minute, 21-year-old Alex Freeman scored with a header, his first World Cup goal. 2-0. Christian Pulisic was out injured, and Pochettino used a rotated squad to secure the win. The US team won back-to-back World Cup matches for the second time in their history—the first was in 1930, when the World Cup was only in its first edition.

That night in Seattle, the stands gave Pochettino something he had been searching for in America. After the match, he said: "Even though I'm not American, I was very emotional after the game. Connecting with people is what we want." He was even more direct with Fox Sports: "Incredible. Yesterday I was saying Argentina has incredible fans, but I feel like we are matching Argentina."

An Argentine was moved by American fans in a Seattle football stadium.

This wasn't the first time he looked for inspiration in the stands of American sports. On August 30, 2025, at an Ohio State University football game, Fox's Big Noon Kickoff show. Pochettino stood in front of the camera, leading thousands of people in chanting "O-H-I-O." A former Premier League manager, standing in the pregame show of an American college football game, trying to transplant that culture of tens of thousands roaring in the stands into a soccer stadium. What American soccer lacks isn't talent; it's this kind of thing.

Two wins, six goals, two of them own goals. The way they broke the 96-year curse was, from start to finish, tinged with a sense of messiness. Pochettino didn't mind the mess. What bothered him was that no one was willing to acknowledge the weight of that mess.

July 1, Levi's Stadium, Santa Clara, the US team plays Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Round of 32. Win and they're in the quarterfinals—for the US team, that would be the first time since 2002.

Twenty-four years ago, Pochettino was still an Argentine international. In the 2002 World Cup, Argentina was eliminated in the group stage. He spent the toughest summer of his playing career on the pitches of Japan and South Korea. Now he stands on the US team's coaching sideline, facing a match that could simultaneously break a 24-year quarterfinal drought for American soccer. A personal cycle and a national curse collide on the same day.

His contract expires after the World Cup. Asked about an extension, he told Sports Business Journal he was "open." The US Soccer Federation said in May he was "100% focused," and he remained transparent about club interest. A $6 million salary, a two-year contract, a 96-year curse broken, a 24-year cycle hanging in the balance.

If they make the quarterfinals, would the US Soccer Federation still want to renew a coach who publicly said "signing was naive" but delivered the team's best World Cup performance ever? Does Pochettino himself still want to stay?

These two questions won't have answers before July 1. The only thing certain is this: when he took over, he said, "We need to believe we can win the World Cup." That was September 2024. Almost two years later, he still says it. The tone has changed. The words haven't.