Tottenham Hotspur supporters were clamoring for the club to hire Mauricio Pochettino as their next manager while in a state of crisis, and even though he could not bolt for Spurs immediately due to his obligations with the United States men's national team ahead of the World Cup, there was hope among the fans that he could be strongly in play during the summer after the World Cup.
Even though Pochettino was an internally discussed option and one of the top two options, he was a seemingly distant No. 2 to Roberto De Zerbi, whom Johan Lange and Vinai Venkatesham were smitten with.
Spurs were able to throw enough money at De Zerbi to somehow get him to change his mind into not only joining the club immediately, but also in committing to the club even if they were to be relegated to the EFL Championship this season.
Mauricio Pochettino doesn't like his USMNT players
For the Tottenham Hotspur supporters who clearly wanted Mauricio Pochettino much more than they wanted Roberto De Zerbi, the Argentinian manager's latest comments on the struggling United States national team will only make them feel more sad about missing out on Poch.
Because it sounds like Poch doesn't want to be coaching the USMNT in his heart of hearts. After the 5-2 drubbing against Belgium and another dreary 2-0 loss to former World Cup foes Portugal, Pochettino totally threw his players under the bus.
Pochettino lamented about his squad's quailty by stating, via Doug McIntyre of FOX Sports, “Belgium and Portugal both have top-100 players, some players playing that top 100. I think we don't have [that].”
Wow. That is a brutal quote and summation of the players he has at his disposal for the United States, and it is pretty jarring to hear the usually upbeat Pochettino talk about his players like that. While it is mostly true that the quality the USMNT has is way, way below what Belgium and Portugal have, it is weird that Pochettino doesn't think Christian Pulisic is a top 100 player in the world when he's been pretty good for AC Milan in Serie A.
Maybe Pulisic is and maybe he isn't, but he is the face of the United States and is a conceivable enough top 100 player that you'd expect the manager not to say this. And even if he isn't, you still wouldn't want the coach to be saying something like that before the World Cup.
It's the kind of commentary made by a manager who is subtly making it known that he doesn't want to be coaching this team for very long. Pochettino left his heart in Tottenham, but it's too late for him now with the club committed to De Zerbi.