‘Wild’—USMNT Legend Tim Howard Protests Mauricio Pochettino Staying for Haiti Matches

The awkwardness will only intensify for the U.S. men’s national team. The Americans are set to face Haiti in a two-legged series for the Concacaf Nations League quarterfinals, and Mauricio Pochettino will be on the touchline for both matches, despite being appointed Manchester United manager.

“It is wild he is coaching through the Haiti games,” USMNT legendary goalkeeper Tim Howard exclaimed on his podcast, Unfiltered Soccer, asserting that an interim replacement should have already been in place.

Rumors of United’s interest in Mauricio Pochettino only began bubbling up on Monday, the first day of the November international window; however, amid “business as usual” at Arthur M. Blank U.S. Soccer training center, the behind-the-scenes negotiations progressed rapidly. By Friday, Pochettino had been bought out of his brand-new contract with U.S. Soccer and inked a new deal with the Premier League giant.

It came as a shock to U.S. Soccer, who only received formal contact from United on Wednesday. The players themselves weren’t told about Pochettino’s exit until Thursday. Had Pochettino not negotiated for he and his staff to remain with the USMNT throughout the Haiti series, the team would have been left high and dry without a leader on the touchline.

Howard doesn’t take issue with Pochettino accepting his long-awaited dream job in Europe. Rather, he believes U.S. Soccer mishandled the whole process.

Howard: U.S. Soccer Should Have Known

tim howard — Howard is now a Premier League analyst for NBC Sports. | Andrew J. Clark/ISI Photos/Getty Images

The prospect of United hiring a new manager during the November international window was tracked for weeks, according to Howard, and Pochettino was always going to be one of the club’s top targets.

The 54-year-old Argentine boss, previously at the helm of Southampton, Tottenham Hotspur, Paris Saint-Germain and Chelsea, has an impressive managerial resume in Europe and has not been quiet about his ambitions of one day returning to the Premier League and coaching United specifically.

“[U.S. Soccer] should have been further ahead of it prior to this camp,” Howard asserted. “This wasn’t a cold call to U.S. Soccer. These conversations had been going on. If Man Utd had been discussing internally for weeks, for weeks ... Pochettino’s agent would have known.”

“I said—and everybody else who knows said—that Manchester United are going to make a change to their manager during the international window,” added Howard, who is now a Premier League studio analyst for NBC Sports. “If you follow anything, who is going to be their top three candidates? [Antonio] Conte, Eddie Howe, Mauricio Pochettino.”

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United had been floundering since the start of the season, with one just Premier League victory dating back to August. It seemed only a matter of time before then-manager Michael Carrick got the axe.

U.S. Soccer appointed U-23 manager Steve Cherundolo to take over for the USMNT’s December friendly against Jamaica. Cherundolo is currently training his youth squad in Spain amid early preparations for the 2028 Summer Olympics; however, Howard asserts that U.S. Soccer should have instructed the 47-year-old manager to remain stateside in case United did in fact 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 reactionary stance and will be forced to feel grateful that United allowed the federation to hold onto their new manager just a little bit longer.

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