Fifa World Cup: USA boss Mauricio Pochettino considering future after calamitous 48 hours
Argentinian to ‘rest a bit and think’ before deciding whether to stay after side’s embarrassing defeat by Belgium
Inside 48 calamitous hours, United States football has torched the global goodwill generated by its dynamic, energetic team, been turfed out of its own World Cup and listened to its expensively hired super coach, Mauricio Pochettino, question his longevity in the post.
After his team’s embarrassing 4-1 defeat by Belgium on Tuesday, Pochettino said he would “rest a bit and think” before deciding whether to extend a contract that expires this month.
Appointed in September 2024, Pochettino was tasked with aiding the USA’s quest to “make a lasting mark on the global soccer landscape”.
He looked on course to fulfil that remit when a vibrant and aggressive American team blew away Paraguay and Australia in their opening two games of these finals, and again when they comfortably beat Bosnia-Herzegovina in the last 32 despite a second-half red card for Folarin Balogun.
It was the intervention of US President Donald Trump, and the subsequent Fifa decision to suspend Balogun’s one-match ban for 12 months, thus releasing him to face Belgium, that lost USA the legion of admirers they had gained over the previous month.
Otherwise composed and rational in his post-match press conference in Seattle, Pochettino grew irritated when asked about his striker’s astonishing reprieve.