{"id":1987,"date":"2026-05-29T06:35:39","date_gmt":"2026-05-29T06:35:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=1987"},"modified":"2026-05-29T06:35:39","modified_gmt":"2026-05-29T06:35:39","slug":"u-s-coach-is-wooed-by-european-power-just-as-world-cup-arrives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=1987","title":{"rendered":"U.S. coach is wooed by European power just as World Cup arrives"},"content":{"rendered":"

Italian power AC Milan has interest in U.S. coach Mauricio Pochettino, creating a potential distraction for the host team. <\/strong><\/p>

Read more Kuszak hits walk-off homer in 10th, Frahm goes distance as Nebraska holds off Arkansas 5-3 at WCWS<\/a><\/p>\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n
Mauricio Pochettino, head coach of the U.S. men\u2019s national soccer team, during the announcement of the team roster Tuesday in New York. (Timothy A. Clary\/AFP\/Getty Images\/AFP\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

FAYETTEVILLE, Ga. \u2014 Barely two weeks before the U.S. men\u2019s national team opens perhaps the most anticipated tournament in program history, the Americans have their first potential pre-World Cup distraction.<\/p>\n

As the team gathered in Georgia this week for its final training sessions ahead of the World Cup, news broke Thursday morning that U.S. Coach Mauricio Pochettino had met with representatives from Italian power AC Milan about its vacant coaching position. The report, first published by the Athletic<\/a>, landed not long before the Americans took the field at the newly opened Arthur M. Blank U.S. Soccer National Training Center outside Atlanta.<\/p>\n

U.S. Soccer chief executive JT Batson said Thursday that Pochettino and his staff have been transparent with the federation about interest from other clubs. He insisted the report had not become a distraction for the national team as it prepares for its June 12 opener against Paraguay at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m confident that Mauricio and team are 100 percent focused on this summer,\u201d Batson said. \u201cThey\u2019re excited. They were among the first people here this morning. They were the last to leave last night. They couldn\u2019t be more excited about being here in our new home.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pochettino, 54, is under contract with U.S. Soccer through this summer\u2019s World Cup, which the United States is co-hosting with Mexico and Canada. The Athletic reported that he met with Milan representatives last week, before the U.S. roster was announced and the American squad reported to camp in Georgia.<\/p>\n

Asked Thursday whether the situation was a distraction, Batson answered simply: \u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n

The timing, though, is less than ideal for the Americans, who are carrying unusually high expectations into a home World Cup and have already faced scrutiny this week over Pochettino\u2019s roster decisions and his handling of players who were left off the team.<\/p>\n

Tim Weah, the U.S. team\u2019s 26-year-old winger, said players support Pochettino and they\u2019ll be able to focus on their tournament prep.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m someone that lives in present day, and right now he\u2019s here and we\u2019re working with him,\u201d Weah said. \u201cSo it\u2019s an amazing feeling having such a prestigious coach coaching us.\u201d<\/p>

Read more Burton\u2019s 25 sparks Valkyries\u2019 90-88 win over Fever<\/a><\/p>\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n
JT Batson, chief executive of U.S. Soccer, said Pochettino has been transparent with the federation about interest from other clubs. (Ronald Blum\/AP)<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

Pochettino\u2019s arrival in September 2024 was viewed as a major coup for U.S. Soccer, which turned to one of the sport\u2019s most accomplished and expensive club coaches after firing Gregg Berhalter following the Americans\u2019 disappointing group-stage exit at the 2024 Copa Am\u00e9rica.<\/p>\n

Pochettino is reportedly earning $6 million annually, a salary package that required significant outside fundraising. U.S. Soccer said at the time of his hiring that it was supported in part by a philanthropic gift from billionaire hedge fund founder Kenneth C. Griffin, with additional support from financial executive Scott Goodwin and several commercial partners.<\/p>\n

That backdrop has made Pochettino\u2019s future an ongoing point of intrigue, even before Thursday\u2019s report. Batson did not directly say whether Pochettino had informed the federation in advance about a specific meeting with Milan. But Pochettino and his staff have been open with U.S. Soccer about outside interest dating back to the federation\u2019s initial recruitment of the Argentine coach, Batson said.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven when we first met, a couple summers ago, there are lots of other people interested in having Mauricio and team join,\u201d Batson said. \u201cHe had standing offers from other places to come, and he wanted to be here. He\u2019s a big believer in what we\u2019re doing in U.S. Soccer. He\u2019s a big believer in soccer in America, and he\u2019s a big believer in this men\u2019s team.\u201d<\/p>\n

AC Milan is searching for a new coach after parting ways with Massimiliano Allegri earlier this week as part of a sweeping leadership shake-up. A move to Milan would represent a return to club soccer for Pochettino, whose previous stops have included Tottenham, Paris Saint-Germain and Chelsea. It also would reunite him at the club level with Christian Pulisic, the U.S. team\u2019s top attacking player, who has starred for Milan.<\/p>\n

Pochettino has said previously that he would be open to remaining with the U.S. team beyond the World Cup. Batson said Thursday that the federation has discussed that possibility with Pochettino and his staff while also planning for other contingencies.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve had a number of very long discussions around what the next four years could look like,\u201d Batson said. \u201cWe\u2019re excited, and they\u2019re excited. Of course, we got to focus on the summer, which we\u2019re doing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Batson said those conversations have not pulled attention away from the immediate task. He said Pochettino and his staff spent Wednesday night at the training center discussing the federation\u2019s long-term plans, including the Olympics, youth national teams and coaching education.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of what Mauricio\u2019s talked about with our entire staff earlier today is around how we turn this house into our home,\u201d Batson said. \u201cThey\u2019re huge believers in that. They know the impact that had at Argentina. They\u2019ve obviously seen the impact that\u2019s had in other organizations they\u2019ve been a part of.\u201d<\/p>

Read more Burton, Williams lead the way as Valkyries hold off Clark, Fever in 90-88 win<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Italian power AC Milan has interest in U.S. coach Mauricio Pochettino, creating a potential distraction for the host team. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1984,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1987","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"yoast_head":"\nU.S. coach is wooed by European power just as World Cup arrives - Moving Insider USA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=1987\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"U.S. coach is wooed by European power just as World Cup arrives - Moving Insider USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Italian power AC Milan has interest in U.S. coach Mauricio Pochettino, creating a potential distraction for the host team.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=1987\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Moving Insider USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-05-29T06:35:39+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/4c1dab134fffc17a5225899cc7d99896-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1707\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=1987#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=1987\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/22d40ab81790f6a361021763bb56ef03\"},\"headline\":\"U.S. coach is wooed by European power just as World Cup arrives\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-29T06:35:39+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=1987\"},\"wordCount\":994,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=1987#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/217c06b9f760b806e43750e7be03260a-scaled.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Interesting\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=1987#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=1987\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=1987\",\"name\":\"U.S. coach is wooed by European power just as World Cup arrives - Moving Insider USA\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=1987#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=1987#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/217c06b9f760b806e43750e7be03260a-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-29T06:35:39+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/22d40ab81790f6a361021763bb56ef03\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=1987#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=1987\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=1987#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/217c06b9f760b806e43750e7be03260a-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/217c06b9f760b806e43750e7be03260a-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1707,\"caption\":\"The US Men's National Team's (USMNT) head coach Argentine Mauricio Pochettino speaks during the announcement of the USMNT 2026 World Cup roster in New York, on May 26, 2026. 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