Soccer: New US Men's Team Coach Mauricio Pochettino Debuts This Weekend

10/8/24

(Centralia, WA) After a disappointing Copa America the USMNT decided to move on from Head Coach Gregg Berhalter. Berhalter had a 44-17-13 overall record with a 29-9-7 record in official competitions and won the 2021 Gold cup and 2 CONCACAF Nations League titles.

The US hired Mauricio Pochettino to take the reins and guide the Men’s team to a new level. Pochettino played professionally for 17 years as a center back before going into coaching. His first coaching job was at Espanyol in Spain with stops at Southampton, Tottenham and Paris Saint-Germain before spending last season at Chelsea in the EPL. The Argentinian Coach has named his first training camp roster with a few injury replacements. One of the injured players is Copa America standout Folrian Balogun who led the team in goals. That injury opens the door for young players like Ricardo Pepe or Olympic team Captain Tanner Tessman to get more involved in the action.

Training under the New staff just started on Monday October 7th but the players have already noticed a difference with Defender Antonee Robinson saying the first practice was “more intense” than the previous staff. With the US set to host the World Cup alongside Canada and Mexico in 2026 hopefully that intensity leads to major tournament wins.

The USMNT takes on Panama in Austin on October 12th before heading to Guadalajara to play Mexico on the 15th Check out the link from USsoccer.com for their full roster and injury replacements.