6 Potential Successors for Mauricio Pochettino If He Leaves the USMNT
Officially, it's unclear whether Mauricio Pochettino will remain as the United States men's national team manager following a promising but deeply unsatisfying World Cup run to the round of 16.
Unofficially, it's hard to imagine him staying on board.
The charismatic Argentine instilled some of the most scintillating attacking play we've seen from the USMNT at the World Cup, albeit against decisively overmatched opponents.
He also oversaw what was decisively the team's worst knockout performance of the modern era in Monday's 4-1 loss to Belgium.
He has been constantly connected to club openings across Europe, a trend that would not stop even if he signed a new U.S. deal. The United States generally only hires managers in four-year cycles, and it's difficult to see him remaining in place for four more years.
So with all that said, let's take a look at some of the leading USMNT managerial candidates if Pochettino and U.S. Soccer do go their separate ways.
Pellegrino Matarazzo
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Current status: Manager, Real Sociedad
Pros: Matarazzo is easily the most accomplished American-born manager in world football, and he became the first to win a major trophy in a big-five European country when his Real Sociedad side captured the 2025-26 Copa del Rey. He was also the La Liga manager of the month this past January.
Sociedad is also his third big European job, having previously managed in the Bundesliga for Stuttgart (2019-2022) and Hoffenheim (2023-24). Before that, the New Jersey-born, Columbia University-educated Matarazzo played professionally in the lower tiers of the German game.
Cons: While Matarazzo is arguably the only coach who can check off both "American-born" and "European-educated" (in coaching), he has little experience coaching American players. Even at the club level, only former World Cup center back John Brooks and uncapped defender Justin Che played for him, both at Hoffenheim.
He's also under contract for another year at Sociedad, so even if he wanted the U.S. job, negotiating his immediate availability could be costly.
B.J. Callaghan
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Current status: Manager, Nashville, SC
Pros: Callaghan has already done the job, serving as interim manager in 2023.
Under his stewardship with their stars assembled, the Yanks won the 2023 Concacaf Nations League convincingly. Then he took a largely MLS-based squad to the Concacaf Gold Cup, where they exited on penalties to Panama in the semifinals.
Since then, he's guided Nashville to its first major trophy, the 2025 U.S. Open Cup, and in 2026, the team is currently atop the Eastern Conference and Supporters' Shield standings.
Cons: Callaghan is still only two years into his first senior managerial role, and if he is offered the U.S. job, he'd be taking it with less head coaching experience than any other manager in the program's modern era.
His history as Gregg Berhalter's assistant might also result in a short leash from a fanbase that may feel more suspicious than ever after this team's undistinguished exit from the World Cup.
Roberto Martinez
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Current status: Available (Resigned as Portugal manager, July 2026)
Pros: Martinez offers an intriguing combination of European club pedigree, national team managerial experience and familiarity with the American soccer landscape.
He's also more naturally optimistic than many managers on the market, a characteristic that might fit well with the American desire to dream big.
There's also the convenient fact that he just resigned from the Portugal post, making him available immediately, though there could be competition for the Spaniard, with Scotland reportedly interested.
Cons: He was viewed as particularly accommodating to aging star man Cristiano Ronaldo while with Portugal, a tactic that probably raised the team's floor in World Cup qualifying but arguably lowered its ceiling in the tournament proper.
There's also a sense that he overpromises and underdelivers, which could make for a particularly fraught dynamic with a fanbase that is bound to feel suspicious of big dreams right now.
Brian Schmetzer
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Current status: Manager, Seattle Sounders
Pros: It's hard to find someone with a more trustworthy countenance in domestic soccer circles and a better record of domestic success.
Schmetzer has won two MLS Cups, reached two more finals, and is the only MLS manager to ever guide his team to victory in the modern era of the Concacaf Champions Cup. And while he might be slightly lacking in the style department, his even-keel demeanor might make him the closest thing America has to a Carlo Ancelotti facsimile.
Cons: He's 63, and he's never managed anywhere other than Seattle. Until he takes a job elsewhere, it's impossible to know how much of his success comes from an intimate knowledge of his surroundings. His family is a Seattle institution; his parents were the proprietors of the famed Schmetzer's Sporthaus, one of the oldest and longest-running soccer-friendly sporting goods stores in the country.
Also, despite his success in Seattle, there's maybe a sense recently that the Sounders have underachieved in the years since capturing the 2022 Concacaf crown.
Steve Cherundolo
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Current status: Manager, U.S. U-23 men's national team
Pros: Cherundolo was one of the first names on the USMNT team sheet for more than a decade as a starting right back. He played his entire professional club career in Germany, where he earned the colloquial title Mayor of Hanover.
As a manager, he has youth experience in the German academy system and pro experience from a four-year stint with LAFC, where he guided the Black-and-Gold to a 2022 domestic double of the MLS Cup and Supporters' Shield, and the 2024 U.S. Open Cup.
Cons: He was just named as the new boss of the U.S. U-23 program, i.e., the squad that will compete at the 2028 Summer Olympic Games. That would seem to suggest the executives at U.S. Soccer have a different plan in mind for the full-team manager.
Additionally, there was a sense that his LAFC teams got more boring as his time there wore on. His decidedly counterattacking style might be a good fit for the U.S. talent pool, but it probably wouldn't win aesthetic plaudits the way Pochettino did during his teams' best performances.
Pep Guardiola (Let Us Dream For a Minute)
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Status: Available (Out of contract as of July 2026)
Pros: He's Pep Guardiola, the man almost universally considered the best and most accomplished manager in world football. The benefit of the doubt afforded to him would be near-universal.
And as unrealistic as the notion of following stints with FC Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Manchester City with a job with U.S. Soccer might feel, his affection for New York City in particular and American culture in general is real.
Cons: There are two things Guardiola has no experience with in his career: Managing a national team and managing a team that regularly has a talent deficit compared to its best opponents. And as someone who is well-known for being a very hands-on manager, the distance required when managing an international team could prove frustrating.
There's also the potential for defeatism if things don't go well. If even Guardiola fails to improve the USMNT squad, the sporting public—and maybe even the program itself—could begin to feel like it's a lost cause.
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