Mauricio Pochettino Reflects on World Cup Chaos and Future Ambitions

Mauricio Pochettino walks into the room and it feels less like an interview, more like a reunion. Hugs, jokes, summer stories. He has always had that knack – warm, open, disarming.

Only this time, his summer has been anything but ordinary.

World Cup chaos, Trump and a “suspended suspension”

Pochettino led the USA to the last 16 of a home World Cup, their run ending in brutal fashion against Belgium. On paper, it is a neat line on a CV. In reality, it was a storm.

There was Donald Trump. Of course there was Donald Trump. There was a presidential presence around the camp, a changing-room team talk, a head of state who thrives on the spotlight hovering over a coach who prefers to keep the focus on the pitch.

There was FIFA. There was Folarin Balogun. There was the surreal saga of a suspension being suspended on the eve of a knockout tie.

Pochettino chooses his words carefully when politics comes up. He prefers to talk about support and backing from Trump rather than the circus that followed. The Balogun case is where he lets the mask slip a little.

He admits the “politics and manipulation” around the striker’s eligibility overshadowed the build-up to Belgium. The anger, the noise, the debate – all of it swirled around the team. His role, he insists, was simpler.

“If you pay attention to the noise, you become crazy,” he says.

FIFA’s ruling arrived late. “When the letter arrived the day before the game confirming Balogun was available, the decision was straightforward.” He played. The controversy raged on around them.

The USA went out, but Pochettino came away feeling transformed.

“We are much better coaches now,” he says of himself and long-time assistant Jesus Perez.

The World Cup, he explains, sharpened his obsession with detail – every decision magnified, every message compressed into the brief windows you get with a national team. “Everything needs to be perfect,” he adds. Or as close as a coach can get in a month-long whirlwind.

A four-year commitment – and a fashion moment

Then came the twist. As the game moved on from the World Cup, the rumours started. Pochettino to this club, Pochettino to that one. The usual carousel.

Instead, he doubled down on international football. A new four-year contract with the USA, running to 2030. For a coach so closely associated with club projects, it raised eyebrows.

His summer, though, was not just about tactics and politics. It was also about navy.

Pochettino’s touchline look – a sharp, dark ensemble – became a talking point of its own. The photos flew around social media. The outfit sold out. Wayne Rooney even went out and bought it.

“I saw him,” Pochettino laughs. “He looked good on him, like a top coach.”

He takes his style seriously, but even he did not expect to become a World Cup fashion reference. It was that kind of summer. Football, politics, aesthetics – all colliding.

Balogun’s club turmoil and a coach keeping his distance

Balogun has not drifted far from Pochettino’s orbit. The forward’s proposed move from Monaco to Everton collapsed late on Deadline Day, leaving him stuck in Ligue 1 when a Premier League switch seemed within reach.

Pochettino has not called him. Not yet.

He has chosen to give the striker space, aware of how raw a failed transfer can feel. He admits he would have liked to see Balogun in the Premier League. Instead, the forward remains at Monaco, and Pochettino simply hopes he can reset and “get himself into a good place”.

The message is clear: the door is not closed, but the timing matters.

“My dream now is USA – but the Premier League is not finished”

Four more years with the USA takes Pochettino to 2030. Six years away from club football is a long stretch for a man who built his reputation on day-to-day work at Espanyol, Southampton, Tottenham and Chelsea.

So is this it for the Premier League?

He pushes that idea away immediately.

“I have the ambition,” he says. “My dream now is to be in the USA for four years, but after that, why not? We are still young, and I think coming back is always my goal; to win the Premier League, to be in the Premier League and to build a project with the possibility of winning.”

“I love the football here. I think to have the chance again is one of my wishes and I hope that happens.”

The desire is not to just return. It is to come back to win. The unfinished business lingers.

The Spurs question that never really goes away

Unfinished business at Spurs, in particular.

Around 18 months ago, Pochettino spoke openly about wanting to return to Tottenham one day. Since then, the club have lurched through managers. Ange Postecoglou struggled and left. Thomas Frank and Igor Tudor came and went as Spurs flirted dangerously with the drop.

So did the phone ring?

“Always I say, one day, why not?” he replies when the idea of a return is raised again.

Was it close this time? He shakes his head in words.

“People talk and maybe we receive some approach, but it never was close.”

Not this time. The romance remains theoretical.

There were other links. AC Milan, among them, seemed a plausible destination at one stage. Pochettino insists he shut that down early.

“We were not open during the World Cup to talk with different clubs that were interested,” he says.

Were there many? He smiles. “Yes, always,” he replies, as if it is simply the reality of his status. “Yes, always have different, you know, options.”

Did any of them truly tempt him?

“We never gave the opportunity to be close. We always closed the door before it got close.”

The USA project came first. Everything else stayed on the outside.

Spurs, Chelsea and the money era

Talk turns to his former clubs. Tottenham first. It is never dull there, he’s reminded. He laughs, because he knows.

“They are investing like other clubs,” he says, watching from a distance as Spurs throw serious money at Premier League-proven players after a couple of turbulent seasons.

He remembers how close he came to glory with far less. A Champions League final, title races, a squad that punched above its financial weight. Asked what he would have done with £300m, he grins mischievously and pretends he cannot even imagine that number.

Will this new strategy work?

“You never know,” he replies. “We need time to see if that works or not.

“Like in all the games, when you make a decision like a coach that can work well or not. I think it’s a different strategy and a different way to operate. I always wish the best for Tottenham because it’s in my heart.”

Chelsea, his most recent Premier League stop, have also shifted gear. The role he held as head coach has been upgraded to “manager”, and the club have pivoted towards signing Premier League-ready players rather than long-term projects under Xabi Alonso.

Pochettino avoids direct criticism but recognises the intent.

Buying players already adapted to the league, he says, brings an expectation: “you can expect to fight, to be a contender for the Premier League.”

Chelsea’s defeat to Arsenal has already checked some of the early optimism, yet he urges calm around Alonso.

“Of course they are disappointed after the defeat against Arsenal, but I think we need to give time to Xabi’s first season after three games in the Premier League,” he says.

“I think we need to give time, and of course for Tottenham the same.”

Patience is not a word often associated with either club. Pochettino knows that better than most.

Arteta, Arsenal and the bar to beat

From Spurs and Chelsea, the conversation inevitably drifts across north London.

For Pochettino, Arsenal are the benchmark.

“Mikel [Arteta] is the best coach in the Premier League today,” he says, without hesitation. He believes Arteta knows exactly what his team needs and how to deliver it. “Knowing what he needs to do, it’s going to be tough to beat them.”

It is an intriguing line from a man who once stood in direct opposition to Arsenal’s rise. Now, from his vantage point with the USA, he sees a different landscape taking shape in England.

Arsenal in pole position. Spurs and Chelsea trying to recalibrate. Big money flying around, big expectations attached.

And somewhere in the background, Mauricio Pochettino – World Cup-tested, four more years committed to the USA, Premier League dreams still burning – quietly plotting what his next great project might look like when the call finally comes.