The Copa America? That turned into a flop on home soil. The Olympics? Losing 4-0 in the quarterfinals stings. And even the Concacaf U-20 Championship? The United States doesn’t like losing finals to Mexico.
After a brutal summer, the men’s side of U.S. Soccer needed a jolt of positive energy. It’s gotten one in Mauricio Pochettino, who was officially announced as the USMNT’s manager on Tuesday.
Pochettino’s hiring is a coup.
His track record of success in his club managerial career, where he helped Tottenham to a Champions League final and earned the manager’s chair at PSG and Chelsea, will demand respect. His man-management style combines personal connections valued by younger players with the demanding standards many believe were missing at the end of the Gregg Berhalter era. Tactically, his style of play aligns with U.S. Soccer’s decades-long quest to evolve into the protagonist on the field.
He checks nearly every box.
Still, if you sense a “but” coming, you’re right. Each of the USMNT’s last three new permanent coaches – Bob Bradley, Jurgen Klinsmann and Gregg Berhalter – promised a more progressive tactical plan that, in Berhalter’s words, “changes the way the world views American soccer”. Each failed to completely fulfill that promise. The constraints of the player pool forced them to adopt a more pragmatic style of play.
Will things be any different for Pochettino?
Let’s dive into how the Argentine wants to play, how his style will impact the player pool, and the toughest choices that await him.
Introducing... #USMNT Head Coach Mauricio Pochettino 🇺🇸
— U.S. Soccer Men's National Team (@USMNT) September 10, 2024
Pochettino’s tactical approach
There are plenty of similarities between Pochettino’s preferred style of play and the tactics employed by the USMNT under Berhalter. Pochettino tends to play in a 4-2-3-1, a close cousin of the 4-3-3. He’s committed to building out of the back and his fullbacks provide attacking width in the final third. Defensively, his teams counter press before falling back into a mid-block. Sound familiar?
Still, Pochettino and Berhalter have fundamental tactical differences, too, ones that will re-shape the United States ahead of the 2026 World Cup.
The largest differences come down to risk-taking: Pochettino’s teams are more aggressive. The Argentine focuses on creating numerical advantages in every phase of the game, where recent U.S. tactical approaches focused on positional advantages.
