USMNT Officially Hires Mauricio Pochettino

what is up everybody Mauricio patino is officially the manager of the US Men's National Team now that we've had a little bit of time to digest the news I wanted to really go through this broken it down into three different segments with kind of three different sub points within each segment if you will so let's Jump Right In figure out break down what US Men's National Team is getting in Rao pettino how he actually fits the team he is now coaching and what questions still need to be answered starting with the resume this is obviously a home run he was in the list of names that the beginning of this coaching search I would have categorized as unrealistic not quite at the level of Jurgen klopp because he's not quite at Jurgen klopp's level as a manager and Jurgen klopp was not going to go back into managing immediately after leaving Liverpool but he was in the group where you go I don't think it's going to happen I highly doubt it but you got to give him a call and see and turns out he was interested it's going to be interesting to hear him talk about more of the reasons why but you absolutely positively have to hire Mauricio patino if Marcio patino wants to go manage your team at a home World Cup in two years the other part of why I thought this was unrealistic and why this is so surprising and such a big deal is he has one eh tournament in the Gold Cup before the World Cup there is no World Cup qualifying there is very little high stakes games his team is going to play before the World Cup there just isn't that much to do and so it's going to be quite the transition for somebody who's used to managing at the top of the sport every single day because that's not what this is it is all building up to a month if things go well at the World Cup right it is all about 2026 at this point we'll see what the Gold Cup ends up looking like but you don't even have the rather regular rhythms of the international game with this job because there's no World Cup qualifying you have an incredibly difficult time finding high level opponents to schedule SCH because everybody else is playing UFA Nations league and com bable World Cup qualifying and all these things this team isn't going to get tested very much and that was okay with Marica pastino that's a huge win for the US Men's National Team second part of this talked about it after Copa America you need somebody in this position who is going to get people excited who is going to unify this fan base heading into that home World Cup you have to have a selling point and a reason for optimism you have it you absolutely positively have it just because Mauricio patino is here the third part of this that's interesting to me is that you have somebody who should be motivated to do a really good job here because if this doesn't go well after the weird stint at Chelsea and the weird exit after an uninspiring time at PSG there are going to be some questions they going to start to be asked about Marcio pettino and whether he can get back into the highest level of management in the sport if that's what he wants to do but if this goes well he leads this team to the quarterfinals something like that the consensus is he did a really good job and got more out of them and took them to another level then all of a sudden some other opportunities are going to open up and he can jump back in at the level that he's used to managing at probably but that's not a guarantee if this doesn't go well he has something at stake here too the final thing I'll say from the resume standpoint I'm the biggest Jesse Marsh Advocate you're going to find that's only a slight exaggeration yes I believe the US should have hired him but the end result and I I know where these two teams are at right now you take Marcio patino over Jesse Marsh all day every day it took a while to get here there were plenty of questions and uncertainty along the way but Matt Crocker ended up with the Top Choice the bell of the ball however you want to describe it he hit a home run at the end at the end of this took a while but there is no other way to describe this from a resume standpoint from an excitement and reputation standpoint I don't think in a realistic world the us could have done any better that is just Maro Pino outside of the team so let's talk about the fit now and what this is actually going to look like like from a within the US Men's National Team context the thing that is going to keep getting emphasized and rightfully so is that Marcio patino has done his best work at Southampton at Tottenham with young energetic motivated players trying to get to the next level trying to prove themselves at the highest level trying to establish themselves as big time players in Europe in the case of Southampton trying to get the move to the next big club right trying to propel themselves in their career you'll look at this roster from an age standpoint from a club situation standpoint sounds awfully familiar this is the kind of stuff that Maro pettino excels at is taking a group like this and elevating them making them better getting more out of them that's a really really good thing and to me the biggest reason why this makes sense outside of if maricio patino wants to manage your team you say yes because you're US soccer but just from a fit standpoint outside of his resume that's the big check mark in the positive box the second part they're going to be better to watch I find it hard to believe it is going to continue to look the same and yes that was a big frustration under Greg berhalter I would argue unfairly so most of the time because they got results but it wasn't pretty there's going to be more entertainment value here that also makes a lot of sense from a US soccer perspective in terms of trying to again re-energize the fan base get get fans reconnected get fans excited heading into 2026 get fans to buy into this team again third part is where this gets interesting everything Marcio patino does or has done in his career I should say has been kind of structured around this idea of program building Player Development that work that you can do when you see your players day in day out when you have a 38 Game season plus you know 45 plus games overall in all competitions you know maybe 50 if you have a good season you're playing once twice a week that is where you can see what he is best at and see his ability ities as a coach we don't know that that is going to translate to the international game and this also goes back to something that I just mentioned that I want to dive into for a second here I I say this all the time but it applies to this situation too purely from a winning knockout tournament standpoint and having success in knockout tournaments to me this is not the best system strategy philosophy to have now we don't know exactly what this is going to look like so it's kind of unfair to just project everything we know on this without giving the possibility that there going to be some adaptations from pettino but there has to be the balance the multi-dimensional aspect and it is the one of the everpresent questions with this team who has been playing out of the back doing it very poorly and is now going to a manager who wants to be ambitious maybe not quite as structured in buildup right because there's definitely some some high pressing some more transition in there and again we don't know exactly what the balance and breakdown of that's going to be but he wants his team to be frontf footed and ambitious we have not seen a lot of indications that that is something this US Men's National Team can do well that is a concern for me and does he have the time with the short International windows with only seeing these players a few times a year to get this team where he wants it to be and to execute his vision then the second part of that is is that Vision actually something that's going to lead this team to more success that is my big concern when it comes to fit we just don't know who Mauricio patino the international manager is and he kind of has to get this right on the first try because he's got less than two years before all of the judgment is coming with that World Cup the third part the questions they're all kind of built around the same theme but the first one can he hold these players accountable the flip side or the the counterargument to what I laid out before about how on paper this looks like the exact team Marcio pettino is perfect to coach because there's a bunch of young players still looking to improve and he has done a great job of that in his career is where did things not go so well PSG specifically can have conversations about Chelsea it's just a weird situation but it didn't seem like he had a lot of control over Neymar mbapp the big stars at PSG when Emma Hayes took over the Women's National Team I said one of the great gifts she is going to bring is that she is one of the very few people on this planet who can simultaneously demand an awful lot from her players push them hold them accountable her word make them suffer and also be beloved by them she has this remarkable ability to be both the the hard-nosed drill sergeant the Relentless striver for Perfection and a players coach it is so hard to strike that balance we have not seen an indication that Maro patino can do that and that specifically matters with this team because what is the big conversation and rightfully so right now lack of maturity not focused enough getting outworked all of those things if these players aren't willing to adapt by themselves and we've seen no indication that that is going to happen they have not learned their lesson yet based off of Copo America based off of these two friendlies and specifically when it comes to playing opposition they are better than and that is what is going to happen for a vast majority of the next two years until the World Cup can pettino force that change that I am many other people who follow this team and care about this team believe needs to happen because it doesn't look like it's going to come from the players could be wrong on that just going off of what we've seen so far second in a similar vein can he set the tone for for this program rather than adapt to it and the culture that already exists he absolutely did this at Spurs right it 100% felt like it was his Club his team his vision his culture since then PSG certainly was not molded by him Chelsea was not molded by him if anything he was molded by those clubs and yes it's a different world when you're talking about PSG and you're talking about Chelsea compared to Spurs compared to Southampton so the answer to this might be yes but for this to work the way it could it has to feel more like the Spurs version it has to feel that Unity that belief the players are playing for him they're working toward a common goal instead of all the politics that do come with this position that he didn't seem to handle as well at PSG and Chelsea because that's not what he does I think that's pretty clear by now has he learned enough through those experiences to get this back to something that is more comfortable for him in where he thrives creating that that Pro Player environment where there's an incredible buyin and everybody is is collectively together in what they're doing because that has to be part of this and then the biggest question of all I said in the first part this is a home run no-brainer you have to hire him and I stand by that laid out why this could very well work why this makes sense from a fit standpoint some of the questions ultimately it comes down to this how much of a difference can he actually make and that is not a question about his managerial abilities his tactical knowledge any of that it goes back to those other two questions I just asked I made this point in five things from the week and I want to make it here too there have been US Men's National teams with far less talent and that's no disrespect to those players just I think we're generally in consensus as the most talented team the US men national team has ever had talented group of players teams who've gotten farther in World Cups teams have produced more impressive victories You' got that confederations cup run outside of becoming the class of conquer for a brief period of time this group of players has not done anything that any of its predecessors haven't done they have not taken this program to new heights which hypothetically based on their talent is exactly what they should be doing I have always believed in these the talent of these players I don't think it's overhyped maybe to a certain extent in in some parts of the fan base but generally speaking I do believe this is one of the 15 to 20 most talented teams in the world that should be getting to a round of 16 in the World Cup then you get into a question of okay it's that weird balance because quarterfinals probably overachieving but anything less than the round of 16 is underachieving I really truly believe that's where this team is if you just to line up from a talent standle right now this team is not it's the most talented it is not the best team in its own region and for the first time I am really starting to wonder if this team is ever going to get to where I believe it can and that has a lot to do with the players with the mentality piece and what we've seen recently at cop America and coming out of cop America the the individual results and friendlies aren't that big of a deal but it becomes a much bigger deal when that is your response to crashing out of cop America after the disastrous series of events specifically Tim Way's red card that led to that it is all showing a pattern that has developed before this is not new this team shows up ready to go when they play the best teams in the world they have not consistently done what they are supposed to against teams that are close to them or worse than them and say what you will about Greg berhalter he won trophies that's part of this too that can't go away because they did figure out how to do that part for a little bit and obviously things have not been good recently but I don't believe any manager that's why I said this is not specific to patino or his managerial abilities or his tactical knowledge I'm not convinced any manager can change this by themselves if the players aren't willing to hold themselves accountable hold each other accountable and demand more of each other and say this is not good enough maybe Greg berhalter and this is part of the reason berhalter was fired is that it was too comfortable to me that was one of the biggest reasons why he had to go how uncomfortable thises M Pino actually make it we're going to have to wait and find out But ultimately here's where we're at there's a guy from Wisconsin who has those guys right up north playing their guts out for him and making the US Men's National Team look bad and those players look bad in the process what are they going to do about it Pino's here they're running out of excuses because this is a top easily top 15 manager in the world and a team that I still believe has a lot of talent you put those things together his track record this should be a smashing success but there are plenty of things that have to change in order for that to happen and Marcio P Mauricio pettino can't do that on his own thank you so much for tuning in as always be sure to hit that subscribe button and I will see you next time