Coach of the US men's national team. Mauricio Pochettino admitted that he misses the Premier League and would like to return there in the future.
“The Premier League is the best league in the world” he told the BBC in an interview published Thursday. “Of course I miss it. I'm so happy in America, but I also think one day I'll be back in the Premier League. It's the most competitive league.”
The Argentine managed Southampton, Tottenham and Chelsea before joining the USMNT in 2024.
The US will co-host next year's World Cup with Canada and Mexico and Pochettino, who also managed Paris Saint-Germain and Espanyol, admitted adapting to life as coach of an international team has not been easy.
“The intensity is completely different because you have to come for a few days to prepare a game and play, prepare another game, play and come back,” Pochettino said.
“After November we have three months until March to prepare another game. In the national team you are desperate to train the players. You feel empty because after the second game you cannot communicate and continue to work to improve the situation.”
Pochettino will be under significant pressure as the US hosts the men's World Cup for the first time since 1994. But he believes the sport – which he says his bosses told him to call “soccer” to avoid confusion with American football – has a healthy future in the United States. He said that's partly thanks to his compatriot Lionel Messi, who joined MLS Inter Miami in 2023.
“I think players like Messi help children not only when children want to play basketball, American football or baseball, now they want to play football as well,” Pochettino said.
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He added: “I think in a year [in charge of the USMNT] We are making great progress. We are building [ideas] with people that there is only one language of football, and it doesn’t matter to him whether you are American, Brazilian or English. Our football is [to] compete the way you need to if you want to win.”
Pochettino also spoke of his disappointment at missing out on the title at Tottenham. “I think we were so close at Tottenham… almost [winning the Champions League and Premier League]. This is what I would like to achieve,” he said.
