United States men’s national team coach Mauricio Pochettino explained what he meant when he recently discussed that he is “missing” the Premier League.
Pochettino spent the bulk of his managerial career in the Premier League before being named the USMNT’s head coach in September 2024. He specifically made a name for himself with Tottenham, where he spent five years between 2014 and 2019, leading the club to a Champions League final appearance.
“The Premier League is the best league in the world,” Pochettino told the BBC. “Of course I am missing it. I am so happy in America, but also thinking one day to come back to the Premier League. It’s the most competitive league.”
Pochettino was asked about those comments while speaking with reporters on Thursday following the release of the Americans’ 25-player roster for two upcoming 2026 World Cup tune-up matches against Paraguay on Nov. 15 in Chester, Pennsylvania, and Uruguay on Nov. 18 in Tampa.
“For me, the Premier League is the best league in the world,” Pochettino repeated. “I was involved for 12 years in different clubs like Southampton, Tottenham and Chelsea. And it’s normal to miss the good times when you spent very good times in someplace.
“Maybe if you ask me in five years, or maybe I extend the contract [with U.S. Soccer] for another four years in the USA, and then after seven years or six years I move [to another job] and they ask me, ‘Oh, how do you feel about when you were manager of the national team of USA?’ [I’d say], ‘Yeah, I miss it because I spent a very good time here.’ And when you spend good time [somewhere] you miss that good time.”
Mauricio Pochettino on differences between coaching a national team vs. coaching in the Premier League
Pochettino lamented that one of the challenging parts about being an international boss vs. a club coach is the lack of contact with players. His Tottenham team was very close, and he’s still getting used to the fact that with the USMNT, the intensity is inherently different because he is not with the players’ day in and day out.
“We are going to be spending 10 days in Philadelphia and Tampa and then until March, you cannot be together,” Pochettino added. “Yes, you can have contact by phone, [text] message or go visit, but it’s never the same as when you are working [every day] and that’s what you miss the most.
“In the way that we work and the way we like to work, how we build our relationship with the player, it is really important to have contact every day. But at the same time, we are learning to build and develop our relationships in a different way. It’s never the ideal world, but we will try to evolve as a coaching staff and think of a different strategy to provide the player the possibility to be present even if [there is] distance, and they’re in a different environment.”
Laken Litman covers college football, college basketball and soccer for FOX Sports. She previously wrote for Sports Illustrated, USA Today and The Indianapolis Star. She is the author of “Strong Like a Woman,” published in spring 2022 to mark the 50th anniversary of Title IX. Follow her at @LakenLitman.
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