Do as he said, not as he did.
Mauricio Pochettino’s tenure as U.S. men’s national team coach, which comes to an end when the current international window closes with Manchester United naming the Argentine to take over its open position, will go down as a missed opportunity first and foremost. His team flashed terrific potential, electrified the country at a home World Cup and, ultimately, lost at the same stage as Gregg Berhalter’s and Jurgen Klinsmann’s.
Whether a full four-year cycle would have produced better results — Pochettino failed to win both the Concacaf Nations League and the Gold Cup in his first year in charge — is an interesting hypothetical. The federation clearly believed it would have done so, having brought him back, but barring a shocking reversal, we won’t get to find out. Folarin Balogun’s words Thursday, though, were striking.
“If I had a vote, I would like to keep things the way they are,” Balogun told reporters at the National Training Center outside Atlanta. “Things have been working well. We have a clear sense of identity. We have a clear playing style and whenever you have a top coach, you want them to stay.”
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: nypost.com
