Mauricio Pochettino keeping USMNT in the dark over…
FAYETTEVILLE, Ga. — If Folarin Balogun had his method, issues wouldn’t change anytime soon around the U.S. Soccer National Training Center.
But the writing is on the wall — or at least online — that factors to Mauricio Pochettino taking the job with Manchester United and departing the U.S. males’s national workforce program.
USMNT gamers started training Thursday with the cloud of imminent change over their heads as headlines swirled about Pochettino.
U.S. Men’s National Soccer Team head coach Mauricio Pochettino walks on the pitch during apply, Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2026, in Fayetteville, Ga. AP Photo/Mike Stewart
“If I had a vote, I would keep things the way they are,” Balogun said forward of Thursday’s training. “I think things have been working well. We have a clear sense of identity. We have a clear playing style. I think whenever you have a top coach, you want them to stay. It’s a no-brainer, so, for us, it’s no different.”
Officially, there was no announcement of Pochettino’s departure from the USMNT or hiring at Man United.
When Balogun and Sebastian Berhalter spoke with reporters, the latter said, “We haven’t heard anything yet” relating to what’s been transpiring.
In his short time main the U.S. males’s national workforce, Pochettino has coached the program to a Round of 16 look at the World Cup this summer time and appears to have issues headed in a better direction.
The infusion of younger gamers, which included Red Bull New York stars Julian Hall and Adri Mehmeti, had given American soccer followers a feeling of optimism.
And Berhalter credited Pochettino for his development.
Folarin Balogun of the USA leaves the pitch after receiving a pink card during a match against Bosnia and Herzegovina in San Francisco on July 1, 2026. BENJAMIN FANJOY/EPA / Shutterstock
“Personally, on the field and off the field, he’s done a lot for me,” Berhalter said. “I feel from Day 1 he’s always believed in me before I set foot on the subject. I feel the method I play and the method that I attempt to carry myself, I feel he just said, ‘it doesn’t matter what you’re doing in the subject, these are already the proper issues.’
“To be honest, I can’t thank him enough, regardless if he’s the coach, not the coach. I think I say it every time, he’s meant so much to me. He’s helped me develop as a player and a person. As a player that’s all you can ask for, is to have that trust and have that belief in you.”
Berhalter added that it’s made his job simpler.
Sebastian Berhalter #14 of the United States seems to be on during an worldwide pleasant against Canada at Allianz Field in St. Paul, Minn., Oct. 6, 2026. Getty Images
The U.S. males’s national workforce is slated to play a pair of Concacaf Nations League matches against Haiti on Saturday in Miami and Tuesday in Cincinnati.
Pochettino is anticipated to coach both matches as initially deliberate.
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