The US men’s national soccer team exits the World Cup with notable vacancies in its management structure. Mauricio Pochettino’s status remains unclear, as his contract, partially funded by wealthy benefactors, concludes with this tournament’s end. In April, Matt Crocker stepped down from his position as sporting director to accept a similar role in Saudi Arabia.
Despite the critical nature of these vacancies, it appears that resolutions may not come swiftly.
“We are going to take a break after the World Cup and rest and recuperate,”
US Soccer CEO JT Batson stated during a media roundtable when asked about Pochettino. “I didn’t get to do too much resting and recuperating, but we’re excited about the discussions. [Pochettino and his staff] have been active about long-term planning. As a recent example, [they] were active in our discussions with Steve [Cherundolo] around the U-23 role. We’re feeling good about where we are overall, and we’re looking forward to the discussions.”
Regarding Crocker’s former role, Batson pointed to a federation workforce exceeding “We feel confident we have a great team, and that great team has soccer expertise from deep within the American system and soccer expertise from other parts of the world,” striving to meet overarching goals, rather than relying solely on one executive leader.
“We feel confident we have a great team, and that great team has soccer expertise from deep within the American system and soccer expertise from other parts of the world,”
Helfrich remarked. “As we are talking about and making strategic choices, we have [Vice President of Sporting] Oguchi Onyewu and [Head of Development] Barry Pauwels and [Head of Women’s Youth Development] Tracey Kevins and Emma Hayes who are part of the discussions we’re having, both about near-term choices and about longer-term structure.”
“I anticipate, in the months to come, there’s a little more clarity on structure, but the fundamentals of the team are there.”
