Report: Mauricio Pochettino Agrees to Contract as USMNT Coach After Berhalter Firing

Mauricio Pochettino has agreed to a deal to coach the United States men's national team, according to ESPN's Mark Ogden and The Athletic's David Ornstein.

The 52-year-old guided Tottenham Hotspur to the 2019 Champions League final and won Ligue 1 with Paris Saint-Germain in 2021-22. Most recently, he and Chelsea mutually agreed to part ways after one season, which saw the Blues finish sixth in the Premier League.

Pochettino will succeed Gregg Berhalter, who was fired in July after the USMNT finished third in its group at Copa América.

---

10 questions, one life. Tap in to play Streaks, B/R's daily sports trivia game.

---

Once former Liverpool and Borussia Dortmund manager Jürgen Klopp made it clear he wasn't interested in the job, Pochettino became the biggest name that seemed a realistic target for U.S. Soccer.

Tottenham, Southampton and Espanyol in La Liga all overachieved with the Argentine coach on the touchline. While his PSG and Chelsea spells aren't remembered fondly, he's far from the first manager to succumb to what were wider issues with each club. In the case of the latter, a sixth-place finish was an encouraging finish given what he was up against.

Tactically, Pochettino has also drawn praise for a style that emphasizes pressing and going on the attack.

This hire isn't without risk, though.

As with Klopp, part of Pochettino's success is owed to how much he nurtured and developed young talent. The national team structure typically doesn't allow for a coach to have the same kind of impact because he isn't working with the players every day for months on end.

To an extent, the USMNT is a little like his last two stops as well.

Pochettino's arrival means the expectations will be higher than ever. It won't be enough for the U.S. to win; the team will have to do so emphatically and attractively.

The dreadful Copa América showing and Berhalter's dismissal laid bare how much both the team and officials within U.S. Soccer have fallen short.

The USMNT has more pure talent than ever but is intrinsically missing something.

At the administrative level, it remains to be seen whether U.S. Soccer can get out of its own way. The timeline of Berhalter's firing is a story by itself considering he was let go after his contract expired, only to get rehired.

Bringing in Pochettino will be a big test for U.S. Soccer on multiple levels, particularly whether it can allow for a coach of this level to thrive.