On one hand, paying Mauricio Pochettino around $6M a year — making him the highest-paid coach in U.S. soccer history — shows actual ambition.
But at the same time, it also feels a bit artificial.
Needing billionaire donations to fund the salary kinda says everything about where U.S. soccer still is structurally. This isn’t a federation organically competing with the elite — it’s more like trying to fast-track credibility by importing it.
And the real question is: does throwing money at a big-name manager actually fix the deeper issues?
Because international football isn’t club football. You don’t get daily training, you don’t control player development, and you can’t just “project build” like at Spurs or PSG. If the player pool and culture aren’t there yet, even someone like Poch won’t magically turn the U.S. into contenders.
Either-Low-9457 on
What is this dumb shit?
US are investing into a top coach amid the football expansion in the US. They are a big underutilised market and a richest country on Earth. This is a calculated investment with great returns if he works out (I say it as a Chelsea fan who can’t stand him).
I guess they were supposed to keep the reddit upvotes in mind when making their decisions.
peasngravy85 on
They pay a lot of CEOs way more than this, so what is the big deal?
3 Comments
On one hand, paying Mauricio Pochettino around $6M a year — making him the highest-paid coach in U.S. soccer history — shows actual ambition.
But at the same time, it also feels a bit artificial.
Needing billionaire donations to fund the salary kinda says everything about where U.S. soccer still is structurally. This isn’t a federation organically competing with the elite — it’s more like trying to fast-track credibility by importing it.
And the real question is: does throwing money at a big-name manager actually fix the deeper issues?
Because international football isn’t club football. You don’t get daily training, you don’t control player development, and you can’t just “project build” like at Spurs or PSG. If the player pool and culture aren’t there yet, even someone like Poch won’t magically turn the U.S. into contenders.
What is this dumb shit?
US are investing into a top coach amid the football expansion in the US. They are a big underutilised market and a richest country on Earth. This is a calculated investment with great returns if he works out (I say it as a Chelsea fan who can’t stand him).
I guess they were supposed to keep the reddit upvotes in mind when making their decisions.
They pay a lot of CEOs way more than this, so what is the big deal?