No Grudges, Just Gratitude. USA’s Stars Happy For Pochettino’s Next Challenge.

NU STADIUM (Miami) — What had begun as a perfectly normal camp for the USA’s men’s soccer team quickly turned into anything but.

U.S. coach Mauricio Pochettino arrived at the program’s training facility outside of Atlanta last weekend focused solely on the task at hand: beating Haiti, a fellow 2026 World Cup participant, over two legs in the Concacaf Nations League quarterfinals.

Before many of the USA’s European-based players had even boarded their trans-Atlantic flights to Georgia’s capital, a sequence of events had begun to unfold that ended with Manchester United — one of the biggest brands in sports — naming Pochettino, a former Chelsea and Tottenham boss, as the Premier League club’s new manager.

It was a whirlwind week for Pochettino, the 54-year-old Argentine who arrived as a savior two years ago and led the Stars and Stripes to an enthralling run to the round of 16 at the first stateside World Cup since 1994 before being humiliated by Belgium. 

Mauricio Pochettino will have one last game in charge of the USA. (Photo by JC Ruiz/Getty Images)

No wonder why the move to Manchester United became the biggest story in the world’s biggest sport, taking up so much oxygen in the lead-up to USA’s opener against Les Grenadiers that the match itself – and the U.S. players charged with winning it – became almost an afterthought.

On his YouTube show, former national team striker Herculez Gomez worried that it could be a trap game. Tough, fast and physical, No. 88-ranked Haiti had caused the U.S. problems in the past, including for Pochettino’s side during a narrow 2-1 victory against them in last year’s Gold Cup group stage.

Instead, the Americans produced a 6-0 scoreline and the most emphatic win in Pochettino’s 38 matches at the U.S. helm. 

“The commitment that we showed today was what we wanted from the beginning, in this journey together more than two years ago, and that is why I am so happy,” Poch told me and about a dozen other reporters afterward.

Still, it was a weird few days.

“It’s obviously a little bit strange when you hear so much noise about it, and then he tells us,” said U.S. captain Tyler Adams when I asked him about having to play a competitive game for a coach who already has one foot out the door.

That isn’t normal, either. As far as anyone can remember, Pochettino is the first USA coach to leave on his own rather than be fired. That’s how this works, both here and overseas.

“Anybody that’s been in the football world long enough knows these kinds of things happen,” said Adams. “I’ve had plenty of coaches throughout my career.”

His next one with the national team is anyone’s guess. After Tuesday’s rematch with the Haitians in Cincinnati, the top U.S. players won’t convene as a group again for four months, when — barring a miraculous six-goal comeback by the visitors — they’ll host the Nations League final four in Los Angeles.

What’s certain is that the Americans were ready to play on Saturday, and that they want to send Pochettino off to England the right way.

“He’s made me a better person and player, taught us a lot,” Adams said. “You can see clearly our growth and the trajectory that we’re on. But it’s a huge congratulations as well. I mean, it’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. He’s obviously worked at some very big clubs, but everyone knows Manchester United is something special. So we obviously wish him all the best. But we knew that we had a job to do, and I think that you could see that we were focused on it.”

Christian Pulisic’s two goals spurred the USA to victory. (Photo by Taylor Banner/USSF/Getty Images)

Saturday’s match was “a bit like an away game,” said star forward Christian Pulisic after scoring twice in South Florida; the sold-out home of Lionel Messi’s Inter Miami was filled to the brim with Haitian fans who didn’t stop singing and dancing even when the U.S. poured in goals in the second half.

With a huge aggregate lead putting the outcome beyond any reasonable doubt, maintaining the same intensity in Cincinnati could be tricky. It’s all about keeping that focus in front of what is expected to be a raucous home crowd at TQL Stadium.

“We can’t get complacent,” said Pulisic, who moved into fourth place on the USA’s all-time men’s goalscorers chart. “We want to win the game in Cincy because that’ll give us a lot of confidence and belief moving forward.”

“It’s another opportunity to represent your badge, your country,” Pochettino said. “We need to perform — that is the way that we are going to prepare the next few days.”

Before he flies to Manchester, after Tuesday’s contest, expect a few more tears. Pochettino wept openly during Friday’s press conference after the news became official. Adams said he also became emotional when delivering it to his players the day prior.

Mauricio Pochettino celebrating with his squad. (Photo by JC Ruiz/Getty Images)

“When he first accepted this job, he didn’t know what to expect exactly, but [he said] that the American culture, the people, this team, made him believe in something bigger than just football,” Adams said when asked what Pochettino told them. “To hear that from someone like him is really special. He was fully committed and bought into this process.”

“There’s no one sitting here holding grudges,” Adams continued. “It’s not some rinky-dink opportunity.”

Pochettino’s work with the 20-time English champs begins on Wednesday. Until then, all the U.S. players can do is try to keep things as normal as possible.

“We have two more days now to prepare for the next one,” Adams said. “And then he’s obviously off to United.”