The passion for Pochettino is on full display

SEATTLE STADIUM — #PochOut.

As recently as late last month, this hashtag could be found on social media with more frequency than any reasonable fan of the US men’s national soccer team would expect.

The internet is obviously not real life. But in the wake of another thrilling group stage win at the 2026 FIFA World Cup – a 2-0 triumph over Australia that sent Mauricio Pochettino’s side into the knockout stage with a game to spare for the first time in history – it’s fascinating to think about the sometimes downright toxic stuff that, until very recently, spilled far beyond the fanbase when it comes to negatives in the US. high-profile coach.

Pochettino arrived on these shores at the end of 2024 with a well-deserved reputation as one of the world’s best club managers in football. He had taken Tottenham Hotspur, the Premier League’s perennial underachiever, to the only UEFA Champions League final in its history in 2019. The Argentine won league and cup titles with Paris Saint-Germain, managing both Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappé. Having left Chelsea by mutual consent after taking the Blues from 12th to sixth in his one season in London, his name was floated every time a job opened up at brand name clubs across Europe.

It was considered a near miracle that the US even landed him; he turned down more money to lead the Americans to their first World Cup on home soil in 32 years.

Still, it only took a few poor results for too many national team supporters to accept him less than a year into the job. And it wasn’t just fans.

What started with disappointing losses to Panama and Canada in the 2025 Concacaf Nations League finals reached a low point in September when South Korea outclassed the United States in a 2-0 loss in New Jersey.

Pochettino defended his players passionately afterwards, then ended 2025 with a five-match unbeaten run (four wins and a draw) that ended with a 5-1 drubbing of two-time World Cup champions Uruguay in November.

But some supporters called for his head again in March after crucial losses to top-10-ranked Belgium and Portugal – the USA’s final tuneups before Pochettino named his 26-man World Cup roster last month.

Cut off from the noise of their coach, these players’ trust in their boss never wavered. In and out of the locker room, the 54-year-old insisted that while fight and competitiveness were non-negotiable, results didn’t matter one bit before the main event began.

“Somebody asked me after the South Korea game about my thoughts on all that,” USA goalkeeper Matt Freese said after getting his first World Cup shutout on Friday. “Immediately I said, ‘We all have total faith, we’re all totally supportive and have faith in the process that he’s been outlining.’

“Look at his track record – I mean we’ve seen him do it with big teams,” defender Chris Richards added of Pochettino. “He’s very passionate in the way he talks … we take that passion and we try to apply it to how we go out there.”

That passion has been on full display at this World Cup. The doubters are all silent now. The Seattle fans chanted Pochettino’s name after Friday’s win during FOX sideline reporter Jenny Taft’s post-match interview. The love is mutual.

“It’s amazing, our fans,” he said of the nearly 70,000 souls in the building, the overwhelming majority decked out in red, white and blue, almost certainly providing the best home court advantage the American team has ever seen.

The message was clear: Pochettino is one of us. He knows that the tough moments over the past almost two years have helped create this unforgettable one. In fact, he knew what he was doing all along.