The United States used the Copa America as a test of what it wants to do at the 2026 World Cup in North America, where it will be one of the hosts. It also hosted the continental tournament this year, but its performance left much to be desired.
According to the criteria of
The US team was unable to get past the group stage: they debuted by beating weak Bolivia 2-0, but then, defeats against Panama (2-1) and Uruguay (1-0) left them in third place in Group C, with just three points.
The Copa America had not even finished when the US federation made the decision to fire Berhalter, who had returned to the post in June 2023.
“I want to thank Gregg for his hard work and dedication to U.S. Soccer and our national team,” said U.S. Soccer President Cindy Parlow Cone.
Gregg Berhalter, former head coach of the United States national team.
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“We are focused on working with our Sporting Director, Matt Crockery, and leveraging his experience at the highest levels of the game to ensure we find the right person to lead the USMNT into a new era of success on the field,” he added.
Mauricio Pochettino, the chosen one to replace Gregg Berhalter
According to press reports, an agreement has already been reached with a new coach. This is the Argentine Mauricio Pochettino, 52 years old and with a long career in Europe.
Pochettino played for Newell’s Old Boys, Espanyol de Barcelona, Paris Saint-Germain and Girondins de Bordeaux, and was part of the Argentina squad that played in the 2002 World Cup in Korea-Japan.
After retiring in 2004, he began his coaching career at Espanyol, where he spent almost five seasons, between 2008 and 2012. From there he moved to Southampton and stayed for a year and a half, and was then hired by Tottenham, whom he managed for five and a half seasons and led them to the Champions League final in 2019, which they lost to Liverpool.
Pochettino then spent a year and a half as coach of Paris Saint-Germain and his last club was Chelsea, where he signed for two seasons but only managed one: in May of this year he terminated his contract by mutual consent.
The United States will host the World Cup for the second time, having already done so in 1994. This time, the venue will be shared with Mexico, which will host the tournament for the third time (the previous times were in 1970 and 1986), and with Canada.
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