Pochettino's USMNT Debut Against Uruguay Carries Championship Stakes Beyond Any Friendly

The U.S. men's national squad won't face a competitive match until their World Cup debut next June, but for Mauricio Pochettino, any encounter with Marcelo Bielsa, his "idol" who leads Uruguay, holds much greater significance than just another routine friendly.

It was well past midnight when someone knocked at the door of Pochettino's family residence one evening in 1987. The teenager's parents opened it to discover an unknown visitor claiming to be a talent scout for Newell's Old Boys, a top-division Argentine club located in Rosario, over 90 miles distant. It was Bielsa.

The relentlessly dedicated coach was beginning his own meandering career and had taken on the responsibility of seeking out the nation's finest prospects with characteristic intense enthusiasm. Bielsa and his colleague split Argentina into 70 regions and began touring each one in his Fiat. When he reached Pochettino's hometown of Murphy, passing the city entrance sign that proclaims itself "Ambassadors of Good Soccer," it was 2 a.m.

Pochettino's parents invited Bielsa inside with the stipulation that he wouldn't disturb a sleeping Mauricio. That was fine, he only needed to examine his legs. "They entered my bedroom," Pochettino remembered years afterward, "pulled back the covers and Marcelo declared, 'He has the potential of a footballer.'" Thus started a bond that is approaching its fourth decade.

Bielsa would guide Pochettino's development into a skilled center-back at Newell's. It was Bielsa who subsequently gave Pochettino his initial senior selection for Argentina. After retiring as a player, the former Tottenham Hotspur, Paris Saint-Germain and Chelsea manager would base his complete coaching approach on the revolutionary high-pressing tactics that Bielsa has employed throughout a nomadic managerial journey, which has now brought him to Uruguay's national squad.

As the USMNT welcomes the South American team in Florida on Tuesday night, what might typically be dismissed as merely a placeholder until the actual competition begins at this summer's World Cup, this exhibition match represents another installment in an inspiring story of reciprocal respect.

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When he wasn't praising his squad for their involvement in a bench-clearing altercation against Paraguay, Pochettino devoted much of his pre-Uruguay media session to extolling Bielsa. "Always, my admiration and my respect is enormous," he expressed enthusiastically. "I cannot regard him as a friend. I cannot regard him as just another ordinary person. It's deeper respect."

During his respectful conversations with Bielsa, Pochettino follows the same protocols that govern speaking with monarchy.

"I communicate with him like a person that you revere, is your hero," he explained. "He's this kind of individual that you wait [to] speak with. You always wait for him to greet first and then you respond."

"Yes, [Tuesday] for me is something to relish, to be with him so nearby," Pochettino added. "And simultaneously, we are going to struggle because every squad under Marcelo's leadership are extremely difficult to face."

Uruguay stands among the dark horses for next summer's World Cup, embracing an all-out approach that has secured impressive wins over Brazil and Argentina during the qualifying campaign. Outcomes have seldom been a priority for Pochettino during this testing phase of the USMNT's World Cup preparation, but the opportunity of sharing the sideline with his football hero once more will be something to treasure regardless of the final score.