FAYETTEVILLE, Ga. — Under normal circumstances, Thursday’s U.S. men’s national team training would have been just another practice before the Americans face Haiti in the Concacaf Nations League beginning Saturday.
Instead, reporters gathered under the Georgia sun on a picturesque fall day, waiting and watching every move USMNT head coach Mauricio Pochettino made as he walked onto the practice pitch. The training was one of the final ones that he will conduct as head coach of the national team after multiple reports came out that he would be taking over as manager of Manchester United.
Pochettino will go to the Premier League club on a 2 ¹/₂-year contract, but is expected to remain at the helm through the USMNT’s two matches against Haiti, with the first taking place Saturday in Miami.
Players at the team’s camp just outside of Atlanta have been dealing with reports about Pochettino and Man United since Monday.
But Thursday seemed to have an odd feeling around camp.
In a seemingly salient moment during training, Pochettino made a point to walk back toward a team staffer and give him a hug along with a pat on the back, before the soon-to-be United coach started walking toward the pitch. The two put their arms around each other one more time before going about their normal business.
Sebastian Berhalter indicated when he met with reporters that the players had not been spoken to about what had been transpiring with Pochettino and Folarin Balogun acknowledged that the players are aware of the various reports that have come out.
The realization that Pochettino’s time with the USMNT is coming to an end quicker than expected seemed to wash over Berhalter and Balogun at times as they fielded questions about the Argentine’s impact on the program, as well as themselves.
Berhalter, in particular, gave a heartfelt message of appreciation for what Pochettino has done for him.
“Personally, on the field and off the field, he’s done a lot for me,” he said. “I think from Day 1 he’s always believed in me before I set foot on the field. I think the way I play and the way that I try to carry myself, I think he just said, ‘it doesn’t matter what you’re doing in the field, these are already the right things.’
“To be honest, I can’t thank him enough, regardless if he’s the coach, not the coach – I think I say it every time – he’s meant so much to me. He’s helped me develop as a player and a person. As a player that’s all you can ask for, is to have that trust and have that belief in you.”
Berhalter hasn’t been alone this week in his appreciation of what Pochettino has done while with the U.S. men’s national team program.
Teen star and future Manchester City player Cavan Sullivan spoke about the way Pochettino has helped guide him through his time with the national team. Sullivan, who made his professional soccer debut with the Union at 14, is part of a youth movement among the USMNT that has also included Red Bull New York stars Julian Hall and Adri Mehmeti.
“He’s taken me under his wing in the most tremendous way possible,” Sullivan said Tuesday. “I was obviously a young guy coming in, and he told me to just play free and be myself and have confidence in my ability. But that didn’t mean I was let off the hook or the standard was lowered for me. … I’m someone who really appreciates that directness on the field, but also the warmth, the hugs. He’s a really personable guy off the field, and it just works for us, and everyone loves him as a guy.”
The week-long camp at U.S. Soccer’s headquarters was meant to help prepare them for the two Nations League matches with Haiti – first on Saturday in Miami and then in Cincinnati on Tuesday – but has turned into what has felt like a sendoff between players and Pochettino.
It’s also meant that players have had to compartmentalize the outside noise with the job in front of them.
“We already deal with a lot of other things and this doesn’t change what we do on the field,” Berhalter said. “We know what we’re supposed to do. I think the work ethic, the fighting mentality, that spirit isn’t going to change, regardless. For us it’s just doing what we do and we’ve trained our whole lives to do this. When people talk or if there’s any buzz, we just focus on what we’re doing.”
