Mauricio Pochettino's biggest gamble: Missing the Premier League, his team isn't clear and he's used 71 players - but here's how he has the US 'building joy on negativity' for the World Cup

It was hailed as the most ambitious hire in the history of the United States men's national team. After a 2022 World Cup campaign that ended in the Round of 16, this was to be the manager to take them to greatness on home soil.

Mauricio Pochettino - the man who led Tottenham to the Champions League Final, who guided the likes of Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappe and Neymar at Paris Saint-Germain - would coach the USMNT.

The US Soccer Federation (USSF) hailed it as a statement of intent. The goal was to not just show up to the 2026 World Cup, but to replicate - and surpass - the prior tournament's success.

After a slow start, it appears the United States under Pochettino is now finally starting to catch wind in its sails ahead of next summer's tournament.

At the beginning of his tenure, the Argentine saw the USMNT lose five matches against the top-30 in the FIFA World Rankings. Questions and criticism have abounded about Pochettino's desire to rotate the squad - seemingly ad infinitum - while leaving many key players out.

But something has started to click. Following defeat to South Korea in September, the US has not lost in their last four matches - all against World Cup-qualified opponents, three of which are in the top-30. While there may still be some hesitation, the Americans may very well close out 2025 with promise and hope ahead of next summer.

It hasn't helped that throughout his time in charge, speculation about a return to the Premier League has surrounded Pochettino.

Links to clubs like Manchester United, as well as Brentford and Tottenham, have appeared throughout his time atop the United States' biggest role.

When asked by the Daily Mail in a press conference following a defeat to Turkey in June, at a time where Spurs had just sacked Ange Postecoglou, Pochettino called the rumours of a return to White Hart Lane 'not realistic'. 

However, in recent days, Pochettino admitted his desire to eventually return to England, telling the BBC: 'Of course I am missing it. I am so happy in America but also thinking one day to come back to the Premier League. It's the most competitive league.'

Pochettino has been creating some internal competition of his own within the USMNT roster. Always the centre of controversy among the American fanbase regardless of who is coaching, Pochettino has been especially criticised for his decisions.

While there may be roughly 30 or so players who meet the calibre of the England squad, the transitional nature of the United States has led to Pochettino calling up 71 players to the first team.

Many of those call-ups were to a preliminary squad, but it details the central issue to Pochettino's roster-building: with US clubs starting to generate promising young talent, the coach has taken it upon himself to include more developing players in the senior squad.

It has left many fans and media scratching their heads, wondering what the true 'first team' for the United States looks like. Pochettino hasn't made that clear, as his roster ebbs and flows each passing window.

Typically, it is around this time that nations going to the World Cup have their rosters locked down. Chemistry is being built, standards are being set, fine tuning akin to a Formula One engine is implemented.

Instead, Pochettino appears content to tinker. On the outside, it seems as if it's almost for the sake of tinkering.

This presents a problem for Pochettino unique to this cycle. As hosts, the United States is not playing in qualifying matches for the World Cup. In 1994 - the last time the US hosted the tournament - most of the USMNT players were contracted to the US Soccer Federation itself and trained together for years.

This time, without the need to earn a spot in the World Cup, Pochettino's experimentation has led to some of the top players in the pool being rotated out.

On a conference call in August, Pochettino revealed a roster which notably left out Juventus star Weston McKennie. The Argentine backed up his reasoning for leaving him home, saying the September window was his 'last chance' to see what fringe squad members could do.

Two windows later, in comes Gio Reyna. Despite having played just six matches for Bundesliga basement dwellers Borussia Monchengladbach, Pochettino called his inclusion a 'special situation'.

While Reyna was included, mainstays like Antonee 'Jedi' Robinson, Yunus Musah, Tyler Adams, Chris Richards, and Christian Pulisic were left home for various reasons ranging from injury to disputes with parent clubs.

For a manager who had stressed since his introductory press conference in October 2024 that he valued club performance above all else, the inclusion of Reyna - who logged just 26 club matches last season and played for the USMNT only once since the 2024 Copa America - boggled the minds of many.

And yet, there was an immediate pay-off. Just four minutes into his return, Reyna scored to open the game against Paraguay that they would go on to win.

A magic wand has not been waved and yet the USA has been competitive - even winning - against the caliber of side they were not beating even months prior.

Victory over Japan in September was met with a draw against Ecuador and a win over Australia in October. Follow that up with a win over Paraguay this weekend and all signs point to the US finally finding its form.

After all the naysaying, all the questions, all the speculation surrounding the team - it appears Pochettino has found his footing despite the absence of many players likely to be on the roster next summer.

For Pochettino, the air of pessimism encroaching on the team from the outside became an opportunity. 'All the negativity was a positive thing. All this negativity we used to build that joy,' the manager told reporters the day before the Uruguay match.

'It's not to blame people or blame no one, but I think sometimes our perception sometimes can be wrong - even being inside... Yesterday, I showed some sentences to the players, Let's be realistic and do the impossible.

'When you really touch the reality... and it's not the reality you perceive or you're trying to see, I think it's a good point to do the impossible to change that reality. That is the way that we [have started] to work.'

Pochettino also reflected on the turmoil of the previous tenure under Gregg Berhalter, saying, 'You don't change the captain of the ship in the middle of the storm... but if something was wrong you need to change... you need time to build the way that you are going to operate.'

With this perception, it appears Pochettino's approach to the 2026 roster - and possibly the whole point of his tinkering - is to ensure that those players who don't have 'locked spots' (if such a thing exists, just ask Landon Donovan) understands his system and what he wants.

From there, the move may be to plug in the likes of Adams, McKennie, Richards, Pulisic and so on. With the stars able to shine bright, those who have been getting more minutes under Pochettino will have raised their game to meet the level of those above them.

It's a bold approach. Some players, like USMNT elder statesman Tim Ream, have bought into the idea that no matter who's in the team, the culture of it should remain.

But it's still worth debating whether that idea will prove itself true when it comes to competitive fixtures.

The only competitive matches Pochettino has played did not bear fruit. After winning all the previous iterations of the CONCACAF Nations League, the US lost both the semifinal and the third-place game in March. A B-/C+ squad at the Gold Cup looked outclassed by rivals Mexico - who themselves are in choppy waters - in the final.

Back at that September match against South Korea, Pochettino said the US only needed to start winning 'when we reach the World Cup'. He defended this assertion saying, '(There are) too many examples of teams that win during (the previous) five years and then... they don't arrive (at the World Cup) in the best condition.'

That seems to be the gamble. As long as everything clicks come June, then all the criticism Pochettino received will not matter. His job is to do well at the World Cup, not in November.

Maybe that'll be the result. For now, while the country prepares to host the world's greatest sporting spectacle, the US will hope its new captain can steer the ship along the right course.