Pochettino will be the team manager of the United States until 2030, having agreed to a contract with United States Soccer to lead the men’s national team until the 2030 FIFA World Cup. His agreement was to close after the 2026 World Cup, but federation officials were quick to sign him up for long term.
As for the long-term deal, United States Soccer Chief Executive Officer JT Batson said the coaching staff and the team had a shared vision. The federation managers are confident that the technical environment is stable and the program will be able to take advantage of the growing momentum in the sport all over the country. Under Pochettino’s leadership the team managed to win the group stage title and placed at the top of their pool ahead of heavy international competition Australia, Paraguay and Turkiye. The six points we got from this stage were the highest group stage score of the American men's team in the history of the tournament.
The team made it past the first round of the knockout with a victory against Bosnia but their tournament hopes ended up in a loss to Belgium in the 16th place stage. Despite a bad finish for a team with aspirations of a much broader run in front of home fans, federation officials have their heart in the long term. Pochettino also referred to the passion of fans during the competition as a big factor in him continuing.
Pochettino prior to getting into the American national team had a long managerial career in top European leagues. He became a popular manager with Southampton when he took them to eighth place in the Premier League and became the first manager at the time who managed to take them to an ever-higher place in the UEFA Champions League and also won domestic league silverware with the French giants Paris Saint-Germain. Now that his future is with the American program until the end of the decade, the focus turns to creating a pipeline to keep international talent at a competitive level.
