US Soccer will wait until after the World Cup to talk about Mauricio Pochettino’s future, pushing any decision on the US men’s national team coach into the days after the tournament ends. JT Batson said on Thursday the federation intends to “take a break after the World Cup and rest and recuperate,” even as Pochettino’s contract runs out with the final whistle of the event.
That timing matters now because the question around the USMNT Mauricio Pochettino future has become part of a wider search for stability inside the federation. Batson said Pochettino and his staff have been active in long-term planning, including discussions with Steve Cherundolo around the U-23 role, and said US Soccer feels good about where it stands overall. But the coaching question is only one piece of the picture, because the sporting director role remains empty after Matt Crocker resigned in April to take a similar position with Saudi Arabia.
Dan Helfrich did not say whether another sporting director would be among the hires the federation plans to make, leaving that part of the structure unresolved as well. He said he expects “a little more clarity on structure” in the months to come and described the fundamentals of the team as being in place. Helfrich also pointed to a group that includes Oguchi Onyewu, Barry Pauwels, Tracey Kevins and Emma Hayes as part of the discussions on both near-term choices and longer-term structure.
The friction is clear: US Soccer is talking openly about future planning, but it is also signaling a pause before any real decisions are made. That means the first meaningful conversation about Pochettino may not start until after the World Cup is over, and even then it could be shaped by whether the federation decides to fill the sporting director post first or leave it open while it weighs the coach’s next step.
For now, Pochettino remains in place, but only until the tournament ends. After that, the federation will have to decide not just whether he stays, but how much of its leadership chart it wants to settle at once.
