Mauricio Pochettino has unfinished business with the U.S. men's national team.
Pochettino has signed a new, four-year contract with U.S. Soccer, the federation announced Monday, Aug. 3. This will be his first full World Cup cycle with the USMNT, having taken over the team less than two years before this summer's tournament in the United States, Canada and Mexico.
"It’s a great opportunity because the potential is there," Pochettino said during a small roundtable with reporters before his new deal was announced.
"We were so close. That gap with the best teams in the world is not so big," Pochettino said. "To reduce that gap, I think it’s possible. I think it’s possible because we have the talent, we have the organization."
U.S. Soccer hired Pochettino,
a successful European club manager, in September 2024 in hopes of making a big splash at only its second men's World Cup on home soil. The move paid off in the early rounds, with the U.S. public jumping on the bandwagon for an engaging and entertaining team.
The USMNT won its group for the first time since 2010, then beat Bosnia and Herzegovina for its second-ever knockout win. Its 10 goals was the most at the World Cup for a USMNT.
"The magic thing that happened to the World Cup and the connection with the people, with the organization, was a key point to make that decision," Pochettino said.
But the Americans imploded in the round of 16 against Belgium, the 4-1 loss to the Red Devils its worst at the World Cup in 20 years.
With a full World Cup cycle in front of him, Pochettino hopes to build a team that can handle that level of pressure.
"The vision ... for the future demands us to have different approach and to set a different principle," Pochettino said. "That is why we were working in the last few week and try to reveal our way in all different areas and to try to provide better quality, better capacity, better knowledge, better in every single aspect, add different quality to the new organization.
"We need to start from zero, our relationship from now to the goal, that is going to be the next World Cup."
Though Pochettino's main responsibility will be the USMNT, he also will have a hand in the national team pipeline, youth soccer system and coaching education. One of his priorities will be bringing in younger players and making clear his expectations from the start.
Pochettino and his staff didn't have the luxury of time after coming on board less than two years before this last World Cup. Though he made strides in changing both the culture and the playing style, there were some things he could not change.
Now, he can.
"The good things is that we have the experience and then the knowledge about all the players that were working with us. And of course now (we can) open the pool to bring players that were playing the last year or now they are playing more in the MLS," he said. "But also for players that maybe we didn't have time to assess during that process that was very compact and very short period ... (it's) nice to give the possibility to perform and to be part of that next process."
Unlike this last World Cup, the USMNT will have to qualify for the 2030 tournament. The U.S. is also expected to serve as host of the 2028 Copa America, as well as the Gold Cup in 2027 and 2029.
"We need to start from the day one thinking is that we are going to play World Cup games," he said.
When Pochettino was hired, many expected this would be a one-and-done stint with a national team. He was highly successful as a club coach, leading Tottenham to its first-ever Champions League final and winning a French league title with Paris Saint-Germain, and spoke fondly of returning to Europe.
Despite talks with AC Milan about its vacancy in the spring, Pochettino said during the World Cup that helping change soccer's place in the United States appealed to him. He confirmed after the World Cup that he'd been offered a new contract, and he and the federation have spent the last few weeks finalizing the details.
Pochettino does not come cheap — he made more than $5 million in his first seven months on the job — and his new contract will again be offset in "significant part" by Citadel CEO Ken Griffin.
“We know we have a lot of work to do to achieve our clear ambitions, including competing to win men’s World Cups and having soccer become the most played sport in every community. I couldn’t be more excited that Mauricio and team are committed to partnering with all of us to do the hard work to bring those ambitions to life,” U.S. Soccer CEO J.T. Batson said in the release announcing Pochettino's new deal.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Mauricio Pochettino agrees to coach USMNT through 2030 World Cup
