Former USMNT Coach Goes After New Coach Mauricio Pochettino For Missing Important Quality

The former head coach of the US Men's National Team has openly criticized US Soccer for hiring Mauricio Pochettino as manager. 

Bruce Arena, who coached the USMNT in two separate stints, from 1998-2006 and then again from 2016-2017, thinks the job should have gone to an American manager. Discussing the current state of the team and program with former players Landon Donovan and Tim Howard, Arena made the case that Pochettino, who was born in Argentina, doesn't understand the unique culture and structure of US soccer.

"If you look at every national team in the world, the coach is usually a domestic coach," Arena said. "And I think when you have coaches that don’t know our culture, our players, our environment, it’s hard. And listen, (Pochettino) is a very good coach. (But) coaching international football is completely different than club football."

"When you are a national team coach, you need to know the animal you are coaching," said Arena. "You need to know the environment. And we’re lacking that. If you’re an American coaching the U.S. team, you know the culture, the pride and how important the national team is. When you bring in somebody from the outside, they don’t understand it. Especially in our country, because we’re so different.

Mauricio Pochettino. (Photo by Darren Walsh/Chelsea FC via Getty Images)

Bruce Arena's Criticisms Of Mauricio Pochettino Unwarranted

Pochettino's appointment was widely heralded as a coup for the program. After years of mediocrity and mostly underwhelming leadership, Pochettino brought a world-class track record with him.

But it's been a mixed bag of results thus far, including a disastrous showing in losses to Panama and Canada earlier in 2025. Arena said it didn't appear that the players had "pride" in playing for the US. 

"You’re asking me if we lack that kind of pride," said Arena. "I’m watching and I’m shocked. I’m shocked that we can’t beat Panama and Canada. It was shocking to me. I don’t want to be disrespectful, I want them to do great in the World Cup. There’s no question about that. But we only have a year left now. Time is running out, and they gotta get going."

Arena has a point in that the US is a unique soccer country on the global stage; it's a massive country with a solid but unspectacular domestic league. Soccer also isn't the biggest sport in the country. It isn't even in the top three or four. He's also right that it's very different coaching international teams relative to high-end clubs. Premier League teams, for example, have significantly more practice and prep time to build cohesion and strategy. 

But the USMNT has been headed in the wrong direction for quite some time, despite arguably the best and deepest talent pool it's ever had. And that wrong direction has been directed by American-born managers. When what you're doing isn't working, it's nonsensical to not try something else. 

Most countries would be thrilled to have Pochettino managing their national soccer teams. Whether it works out remains to be seen, but the process was and is good. That's really all you can ask for.