For one game, former Tottenham Hotspur manager Mauricio Pochettino had a nation of nearly 350 million believing in miracles. The United States totally battered Paraguay, who would later push France to their limit in the World Cup knockout stages after upsetting Germany, in a way that made Paraguay look like they did not belong at the World Cup while the USMNT looked like a real darkhorse.
While the United States were also fantastic against Australia and later in the knockouts against Bosnia, they showed their weaknesses a bit in a collapse to Turkey to finish the group stages before getting totally torn to shreds by a much more experienced - and technically proficient - Belgium in the Round of 16.
Despite the early exit for the United States, Pochettino had a successful tournament. He maximized the players that the United States had and was undone by issues that had nothing to do with coaching. It is not his fault that Christian Pulisic flopped on the big stage again or that his midfield and defense looked totally incompetent on the ball. It's not his fault that the United States best goalkeeper is not even good enough to play in the third tier of any European league.
Tottenham legends get no respect
And yes, ESPN's Mark Ogden brandished the Tottenham Hotspur icon with a "D" grade for his World Cup performance, putting him on equal footing as another manager in England's Thomas Tuchel, who failed to progress the Three Lions meaningfully beyond what Gareth Southgate was doing despite having two of the best players in the world at his disposal in Jude Bellingham and Harry Kane.
Sure, the United States were eliminated a lot sooner than the third placed Three Lions, but it is still wild to think that Mauricio Pochettino got a "D" despite somehow getting a squad starting players like Tim Ream and Matt Turner into the Round of 16.
Plus, Tuchel actually lost England a game with poor coaching, giving all the ball and the time to Argentina for Lionel Messi to carve them up so that the Three Lions blew their shot at facing Spain in the Final despite having a much better squad than Argentina, which Spain would later prove to the world in the Final by dominating Argentina more than they dominated England at Euro 2024.
Pochettino deserves more credit and the USMNT players deserve more criticism, yet ESPN and other outlets are choosing to throw Poch under the bus, like always.
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