Landon Donovan is ‘cautiously optimistic’ about the United States Men’s National Team’s (USMNT) potential hiring of Mauricio Pochettino as head coach. This sentiment stems from Pochettino’s impressive track record with elite clubs like Tottenham Hotspur, Chelsea F.C., and Paris Saint-Germain F.C. His extensive experience in European football has garnered widespread acclaim, positioning him as a promising candidate to lead the national team.
Despite the excitement surrounding Pochettino’s appointment, Donovan, a celebrated figure in USMNT history, emphasizes that a stellar resume does not always guarantee success on the international stage. He acknowledges that even the most accomplished managers can struggle to create harmony within a team.
“There are great managers who go into situations and have very little success for lots of different reasons. There are not great managers that go into a situation and have tremendous success, and even though sometimes it’s short-lived, they do have tremendous success and there’s all sorts of reasons for that,” Donovan remarked.
The last notable international manager for the USMNT was Jürgen Klinsmann, who took the helm in 2011. Klinsmann had previously led Germany to a semifinal finish in the 2006 FIFA World Cup, which earned him a brief tenure with Bayern Munich. However, his time with the USMNT was marked by challenges, including friction with key players like Donovan, who was controversially omitted from the 2014 World Cup roster despite his significant contributions to the team.
Donovan expressed hope that Pochettino will adopt a more inclusive approach with the current squad. “It’s definitely challenging, but that doesn’t mean it can’t work,” he stated. He pointed to previous successful foreign coaches, such as Bora Milutinović, as examples of how understanding the players and the culture can lead to positive outcomes.
“From everything I know and have heard of Pochettino, he’s going to excel massively in that way, but that is a big piece of it. Just like when a player goes to a foreign country, they’re immediately learning the language, learning the culture — fitting in that way is a big, big plus, and it goes a long way to your teammates and coaches when you try to do that. It’s not different the other way around,” he added.
With the 2026 World Cup approaching, which will be co-hosted by the United States, Donovan recognizes the urgency for the USMNT to find success. “At this point, I don’t really care which way it goes, I just want us to be successful because this event is the biggest opportunity in the history of the men’s national team’s history to showcase ourselves, and it’s a really big opportunity to gain, literally, tens of millions of new fans and players, so it’s a huge opportunity,” he emphasized.
Listeners can catch the full interview with Landon Donovan below.
