Маурисио Почеттино АНУ-ын шигшээ багийн дасгалжуулагчаар хоёр дахь удаагаа эргэн ирлээ.

Mauricio Pochettino is back for a second cycle with the U.S. men’s national team, but the high-profile coach returns to the job with less shine and more to prove — along with the need to halt a trend that has plagued his predecessors in a similar position.

The last time we saw Pochettino, the U.S. was licking its wounds after exiting its home World Cup with an embarrassing 4-1 round-of-16 loss to Belgium in Seattle. The Americans were one win away from matching a modern-era program best and reaching the quarterfinals. It was what, nearly eight years prior, a group dubbed as a “golden generation” set out to do in reshaping the reputation of the U.S. men’s program.

But the gap between securing that one win and falling short of that goal has proven enormous.

Pochettino was paid millions of dollars to cash in on that golden generation and bridge that gap at a home World Cup. He set goals of “touching the moon” and asked “why not us?” when it came to making history. It didn’t happen. The team absolutely captured the country’s attention with wins over opponents like Paraguay, Australia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. “Take me home, country roads,” became an American summer anthem.

Ultimately, though, the USMNT was exposed against a superior foe, a plot we’ve seen play out many times before. There may not have been a bigger chance for this program to reshape the narrative for good in front of as big of a captive home audience as there’s ever been. More than 50 million people tuned in, only to witness the U.S.’s gaffe-laden elimination.

Now, Pochettino and his multi-million-dollar salary are back. The mandate is arguably bigger, and progress — defined objectively by getting that one additional win in four years, but with more nuance woven into the journey — is expected. The next cycle is as much about building out the infrastructure and depth of the senior national team as it is managing the trajectory of a group that will be in much more of a transitional phase.

Christian Pulisic, Weston McKennie and Tyler Adams will be 31 at the 2030 World Cup. Antonee Robinson will be 32. Tim Weah will be 30. There are still major question marks at goalkeeper and center back. A new generation of players must be integrated —and immediately.

Pochettino helped to bring the USMNT program back to its core identity, one in which competition was paramount and full commitment was required. He can be the right coach for this program. But he has to get his decisions right over the next four years while dodging the same dangers that have plagued every other second-cycle coach in team history.

And he will do so while another major question hovers over him that perhaps didn’t engulf his predecessors: Is he committed to a full four-year cycle?

Speaking to a small group of reporters on Monday, Pochettino relished the chance to start fresh in a familiar role.

“I really believe that it’s an exciting situation for soccer in USA,” he said. “After 18, 19 months working in the objective that was only the World Cup, now to start in a fresh way, with a different approach, trying to create a different philosophy, different idea of what we need to do. To have the possibility to start from zero.

“The demand from the vision of the federation for the future, demand us to have a different approach, and to set a different principle, with some similarities, but of course completely different. And our responsibility as a coaching staff is to provide the federation different things. That is why we were working in the last few weeks to try to reveal our way in all different areas, to try to provide better quality, better capacity, better knowledge, in every single aspect. Add different quality to the organization that needs to be fresh.

“And I think we need to start from zero … to the goal that is going to be the next World Cup.”

Jurgen Klinsmann was fired two matches into the final round of qualifying for the 2018 World Cup during his second cycle as U.S. coach (Moises Castillo / AP Photo)

A horrid history of USMNT and second-cycle coaches

The history of second-cycle U.S. men’s national team coaches over the last two decades, to put it lightly, is not encouraging.

Bruce Arena followed up a 2002 quarterfinal appearance with a winless, group-stage exit in 2006, ranking 25th out of 32 teams. Bob Bradley was fired just a year into his second tenure following a 4-2 loss to Mexico in a compelling 2011 Gold Cup final. Jurgen Klinsmann was fired midway through his second cycle with the U.S. flailing at the start of 2018 World Cup qualifying (a campaign that Arena could not ultimately salvage). Gregg Berhalter was axed after the U.S. was eliminated in the group stage of the 2024 Copa América on home soil. The latter three coaches, like Pochettino, had reached the World Cup’s round of 16.

So why should Pochettino’s second run be any different? He’s unique in that he did not have a full qualifying cycle with the U.S. after his initial hiring. Pochettino goes into this second act with less time as U.S. coach than any of those predecessors. He needs to turn that into an advantage.

Pochettino has at times shown a ruthlessness regarding how he approaches player selection. His first two years were defined by his insistence that no one is guaranteed a spot on the national team and that past performance would not dictate call-ups. He mostly stuck to that edict. He’ll need a heavy dose of that mentality going into this second cycle.

It’s also critical that in the two-week September-October window, which will feature four friendlies, we see Pochettino begin the transition of this national team with some new faces.

Real Salt Lake’s Zavier Gozo (if healthy), and Red Bull New York’s Adri Mehmeti and Julian Hall, none yet 20 years old, should all be integrated into the group. He should also consider other Olympic-eligible players like 18-year olds Peyton Miller (New England Revolution) and Neil Pierre (Philadelphia Union). Former USMNT goalkeeper Tim Howard has called for 16-year-old Union midfielder Cavan Sullivan to get the call now, too.

Pochettino said Monday that this cycle will be a chance to bring players “that maybe we didn’t have time to assess during that process that was very compact and very short period,” and to open “the possibility to perform and to be part of that next process.”

This isn’t just about throwing bones to the next generation of players coming through, it’s sending a message that was clear during the World Cup: the depth has to improve — and quickly.

“By the time you get to 2030, you need these guys to have played 20, 30, 40, 50 games,” USMNT legend Landon Donovan said on his Unfiltered podcast. “It can’t be like your sixth game. I think Zavier Gozo … Julian Hall I’d love to see. Get them in now. Qualifying is coming up and those games are not easy. Get them in, see what they have so that by the time they get there they are ready to go.”

It is easy, of course, to get caught up in the hype of players who are almost all potential. It’s enticing because it’s easy to imagine what they could be. More important, however, is that Pochettino doesn’t get caught in the trap that is often the downfall of second-cycle coaches: leaning on your favorites so much that you’re blinded to what else is out there.

It’s human instinct to call on the players you trust. But Pochettino has to keep that mentality that helped pull this U.S. team out of its funk post-Copa América. He has to encourage competition. The fall friendlies and November Nations League matches shouldn’t be tantamount to a ticker-tape parade for a round-of-16 World Cup team. This isn’t a celebration tour. It should be an announcement that the build is starting anew.

Pochettino seemed to indicate he felt the same way on Monday, and he didn’t shy away from the idea of integrating new faces into the program. With a home Olympics coming in 2028, it’s a big moment for the next generation.

“It’s going to be important to provide the young kids that we really believe that they have the potential to arrive in 2030, in four years, to start to work and start to grow, and settle the principle that we expect from them,” he said. “I think now, after our experience, we need to provide everyone — the players that were with us in the World Cup, or were in the last process; and the new generation, a new young player, or player that maybe that mature, they didn’t have the possibility to be in that process — they need to feel they, if they perform, can have the possibility to to join us.”

Mauricio Pochettino and longtime assistant Jesus Perez are back to oversee the USMNT (David Gonzales / Imagn Images / Reuters)

Warding off the lure of Europe

Pochettino’s second run with the U.S. will always have that one big commitment question humming in the background.

Part of the answer will be determined by how big of a buyout U.S. Soccer put into the contract and the structure of that clause. Is the figure escalating over the course of the four years? Are there different figures for different prospective suitors?

In reality, though, a buyout can be just a negotiating point. If a coach wants to leave, the odds are he is going to. Pochettino has always insisted that when he commits to something, he sees it through. He proved that once in this job. But in less than two years as coach of the U.S., he also gave multiple interviews in which he talked about his desire to coach again in the Premier League and win trophies on offer only in European club football.

In March 2025, he told Sky Sports, “Look, when I left the club I always remember one interview I said I would like one day to come back to Tottenham and that is of course … I am in the USA, I am not going to no, I’m not going to talk about that, but what I said then still after six years or five years, I still feel in my heart that, yes, I would like one day to come back.”

In June 2025, he shot down rumors about a return to Tottenham Hotspur as “not realistic.”

Five months later, in an interview with BBC Sport, Pochettino called the Premier League “the best league in the world.”

“Of course I am missing it,” he said. “I am so happy in America but also thinking one day to come back to the Premier League. It’s the most competitive league.”

In February 2026 on the High Performance podcast, Pochettino said he most wanted to win the Champions League and Premier League titles —even as the World Cup awaited just four months later.

“I don’t know how, but I’m going to achieve it [winning the Premier League title],” he said. “I don’t know in which club.”

In May 2026, right before the World Cup, he held talks with AC Milan about a potential job.

It was a steady drumbeat, and it will only continue whenever a premier opening arises. Pochettino remains one of the biggest names in soccer management, and it’s no fault of his own that he’s constantly asked about other jobs. It’s expected that he’s going to be connected when big roles open. But it was one thing to give interviews about the next job while on a relatively short-term contract. This time, it’s a four-year cycle with World Cup qualifying involved. U.S. Soccer and the USMNT need an all-in leader.

Pochettino was asked Monday if he’d tell European teams “no,” that he was committed to the U.S. for four years, when they came asking.

“Today it’s like this. Because already I say no. Too many possibilities, I say no without a contract in the federation,” Pochettino said. “Like (what) happened in the last 18 months. Always we were thinking beyond after the World Cup. … But the problem is, four years’ time is a really long period. You never know what can happen in soccer. Today, people really love you, but (in the future) maybe that changes, that feeling.

“That is why, for us, every time we sign a contract, it’s to go to the last day of the contract. If we sign a four-year contract, we need to think to arrive there. And we signed the contract because we really believe that we are going to be four years there. Because if not, it’s bad. If we don’t believe in that process, if we don’t believe in that journey, why (would) we sign four years? Only to be sure that we are going to receive a salary on the end of the month? That is not nice. It’s not the way that we think. We really signed that contract because we really believe that we can arrive to the end.

“But in life, nothing is sure. Less in football. Who knows, if it’s in the opposite. Maybe the federation say, ‘OK, we cannot stick with you,’ in two years, in one year, I don’t know. For me, that is why the contracts are important, and always when we negotiate and we agree things, it’s important that the federation and us will feel comfortable in all the agreements that we make, and to sign that contract, thinking in to arrive to the last day.”

It would be a mess if U.S. Soccer were left to conduct a search again in the middle of World Cup qualifying. Pochettino’s return can be a good thing for U.S. Soccer. It could be a legacy-defining move for the coach. If he remains here through 2030, he’ll have spent more time with U.S. Soccer than anywhere else in his career, including Tottenham.

But everyone should heed history’s warnings here. For Pochettino, it will require a different strategy — in part by leaning into his already-established ethos — to make this work.