Mauricio Pochettino is under fire from former USMNT and current MLS team San Jose Eartquakes coach Bruce Arena, who questioned if the Argentine is the right man to lead the Stars and Stripes.
U.S. Soccer hired Pochettino back in September to develop a talented U.S. men's national team into a real contender ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup, hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico. Despite getting off to a winning start, the Stars and Stripes under the Argentine have once again failed to impress.
The USMNT suffered a shocking 1–0 defeat to Panama in the Concacaf Nations League semifinals and then lost a third-place match to Canada just three days later. The two poor results prompted harsh criticism from USMNT greats Landon Donovan and Clint Dempsey, and now Arena is joining in the conversation surrounding Pochettino's early leadership.
"You know if you look at every national team in the world, the coach is usually a domestic coach," Arena said on an episode of Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan & Tim Howard.
"And I think when you have coaches that don't know our culture, our environment, our players, it's hard. I'm sure our coach is a very good coach, but coaching international football is different than club football, it's a completely different job."
