(Age structure of the U.S. National Team)
Pochettino's preference to work with young players is a deep-rooted belief. That belief stems from his own upbringing. At the time Bielsa - later, his manager for the Spanish and Argentine national teams - Newell's Old Boys FC gave him a chance in their hometown, early in his career, along with other promising players. Later, they played an important role in the first team.
He also believes that it is difficult for experienced veterans to change their mentality or habits and sometimes they cannot adapt to his ways. Pochettino seems reluctant to let a few big names dominate the dressing room. As you know, he played alongside Argentine icon Diego Maradona and Brazilian superstar Ronaldinho during his playing days.
Pulisic has status and fame, but does not dominate the dressing room. Mauricio Pochettino did not enjoy his time with star-studded Paris Saint-Germain from January 2021 to the summer of 2022. Three big-name strikers, Lionel Messi, Neymar and Kylian Mbappe destroyed his focus on team cohesion.
In that regard, this USMNT team seems to be a perfect fit for his age and character traits. He has had plenty of time to build relationships with players before the World Cup in less than two years.
Mauricio Pochettino at Tottenham Hotspur
Tactically, Pochettino is forced to call the shots from a high position, which is why he likes young teams. He insists it's not about physicality, but how much players are prepared to run.
To explore his style further, we can take a look at TA's "Playing Roulette", which uses his one and only season in charge of Chelsea to outline his team's style of play compared to the top seven leagues in Europe. These defensive metrics are outstanding. Their Strength Score is 89 out of 99, which characterizes them as being robbed in front of the ball.
The fact that Pochettino scored 96 points in the middle of the promotion suggests that he is looking to launch attacks cautiously and patiently through the middle of the pitch, which suits the technical players at the heart of the USMNT's midfield. While many players have failed to get their rhythm going in the three games of the Copa America, Pochettino will have plenty of opportunities in this region.
Adams, 25, brings unmatched defensive toughness to a three-man midfield. He's a talented player who could be a player at a higher level. 8 Johnny Cardoso, 22, is a powerful attacking and defensive player who is also a natural rhythm controller in depth. 25-year-old Weston McKenney's technical ability and versatility proved invaluable in the final years of Berhalter's tenure, while Reyna provided real forward momentum and fearlessness from higher up the pitch when the U.S. won the CAF Confederation of Nations title this past March. Spirit.
Moussa's ability to carry the ball, 26-year-old Luca de la Torre's devilish back-pedaling runs, and even 22-year-old Malik Tillman's creativity and quality of passing gave Pochettino plenty of options.
Looking at the roulette wheel above, Chelsea's 'Preventing Chances Against Opponents' score is only 32, which isn't that encouraging. Chelsea's 77 league goals last season were their last. They have conceded more league goals (63) in more than 15 years than in any other season since the Premier League's inception in the early 1990s, so their goal tally is the third highest, but it has come at a considerable cost.
As unsavory as it may sound, international soccer is based on having a strong defensive foundation first, and Pochettino hasn't shown that in his recent stint in charge.
Such shortcomings naturally draw more attention to the individual qualities of the backline and goalkeeper, which is a problem on the USMNT's current roster. Last season, goalkeeper Matt Turner barely appeared for his Premier League club Nottingham Forest. His kicking and distribution was suspect at times during CONCACAF. Of the other options in this position, Ethan Horvath from Championship Cardiff City is a notch down in quality. He conceded a poor goal against Panama when he came on after Turner's injury.
Matt Turner - U.S. National Team
Center back Tim Ream will be 37 in October, but he's not an obvious candidate for replacement, and the strength of him and Chris Richards, the other incumbent starter at the position, is questionable.
In order to adequately mask this weakness on the biggest stage, Pochettino's possession game will have to play with greater control.
Ultimately, international soccer is a difficult arena to control. There is a large amount of time between each game, and the ratio of straight knockout games to going home with a loss is too large. Ambitious plans can be reduced to the results of individual matches, and years of hard work can go down the drain in a matter of minutes.
This makes it difficult for a manager like Berhalter to assess the appointment after his dismissal: it is almost impossible to find the "perfect" candidate. However, for a young team like the United States, with the eyes of the world on them in two years' time, a highly regarded name like Beharth will surely bring the required experience and know-how, even if it's his first time in the international arena as a coach.
