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The uncomfortable situation is only going to get more complicated for the U.S. men's national team. The Americans are scheduled to take on Haiti in a two-match series for the Concacaf Nations League quarterfinals, and Mauricio Pochettino will be on the sideline for both fixtures, despite having been named Manchester United's new manager.
"It is absolutely crazy that he is still coaching through the Haiti games," USMNT legendary goalkeeper Tim Howard said on his podcast, Unfiltered Soccer, arguing that an interim replacement should have already been put in place.
Speculation about United's pursuit of Mauricio Pochettino only began surfacing on Monday, the opening day of the November international window; however, amid a "business as usual" atmosphere at the Arthur M. Blank U.S. Soccer training center, behind-the-scenes talks moved at a rapid pace. By Friday, Pochettino had been bought out of his recently signed contract with U.S. Soccer and had penned a new deal with the Premier League powerhouse.
The development caught U.S. Soccer off guard, as they only received official contact from United on Wednesday. The players themselves weren't informed of Pochettino's departure until Thursday. Had Pochettino not negotiated for himself and his staff to remain with the USMNT through the Haiti series, the team would have been left without a manager on the touchline.
Howard has no problem with Pochettino taking his long-awaited dream job in Europe. Instead, he believes U.S. Soccer fumbled the entire situation.
Howard: U.S. Soccer Should Have Known
The possibility of United appointing a new manager during the November international window had been monitored for weeks, according to Howard, and Pochettino was always going to rank among the club's primary targets.
The 54-year-old Argentine coach, who previously managed Southampton, Tottenham Hotspur, Paris Saint-Germain, and Chelsea, boasts an impressive managerial track record in Europe and has made no secret of his desire to one day return to the Premier League — and to manage United in particular.
"[U.S. Soccer] should have been further ahead of this before the camp even started," Howard stated. "This wasn't a cold call to U.S. Soccer. These conversations had already been happening. If Man Utd had been discussing this internally for weeks, for weeks ... Pochettino's agent would have known."
"I said—and everyone else in the know said—that Manchester United are going to make a managerial change during the international window," added Howard, who currently serves as a Premier League studio analyst for NBC Sports. "If you follow anything, who are going to be their top three candidates? [Antonio] Conte, Eddie Howe, Mauricio Pochettino."
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United had been struggling since the beginning of the season, with just a single Premier League win dating back to August. It felt like only a matter of time before then-manager Michael Carrick would be shown the door.
U.S. Soccer named U-23 manager Steve Cherundolo to step in for the USMNT's December friendly against Jamaica. Cherundolo is currently working with his youth squad in Spain as part of early preparations for the 2028 Summer Olympics; however, Howard argues that U.S. Soccer should have instructed the 47-year-old to remain in the country in case United did indeed sign Pochettino.
"If I am an employer or charged with running U.S. Soccer, or I am in a position to run U.S. Soccer, I am going to tap my contemporaries on the shoulder and say, 'Guys, this could go down in the midst of the Haiti games, so I know we have a U-23 camp, but I am suggesting, and you can shoot it down if you like, that maybe we bring Steve over and allow Steve's assistants to run the show there for a week because this is more important. And by the way, if none of this transpires, we've lost nothing.'"
Instead, U.S. Soccer took a reactive approach and now finds itself in the position of being grateful that United allowed the federation to hold onto their new manager just a little while longer.