Pochettino’s 2030 Mandate and Infantino’s Fiscal Gambit: USA Soccercast #197 Breakdown

We're bringing you everything about the U.S. national teams, the players, the leagues, everything else to impact the game of soccer in the United States. I'm Donald Wynne, and we're going to split this show up into two parts here. The first part, obviously, we're going to talk about Mauricio Pochettino returning to the United States' international team, also a couple of games coming up both in September and October for the men and the women's national teams. And then on the other side, we're going to talk about all of the stiff nonsense. Well, maybe not but at least some of it, as it continues to evolve. But we'll save that for after the break. The first thing is, with regards to the men's national team, the biggest story of the last week has been the fact that Mauricio Pochettino last week signed on to continue as the men's national team head coach with a new deal that will keep them in place through the 2030 World Cup. Now, I will also mention that there is some language in the contract. We have not seen the language, but there is some language reportedly, according to you, a soccer that allows for a buyout of some sort on either side should either side decide not to continue with this arrangement, with this partnership, with this marriage, until the end of the 2030 World Cup. So Mauricio Pochettino is here. And of course, he led the team to the round of 16 of the 2026 World Cup. And there had been numerous reports prior to the tournament that he was engaging with contract extensions with US Soccer. They had tried to keep him around by having dinner with him, offering him some things. And he said that he would decide at some point after the World Cup was over. He finally did that. And so now it's about what's next for Mauricio Pochettino. First off, I've said both in written and on this show that this is a good thing. The continuity of having a coach return is a good thing. I know I am overlooking a lot of history with regards to the US men's national team specifically and second cycle coaches. They rarely work out. In fact, they have not worked out yet. Why is Mauricio Pochettino the one that could work out? I don't know, they could be. But I think the idea is that this team has had five head coaches since 2022 and having one coach stick around for a while would be a good thing. And I think that will help maybe get some stability back into the program. And I know it feels like they're on stable ground. But if you look over the course of the past four years, they just haven't. There hasn't been, we've had coaches with one foot in, one foot out. We've had coaches who signed on and got fired. We've had coaches who've come in and are looking elsewhere as Mauricio Pochettino did with a few jobs before the World Cup. But of course, he was looking for a new job and now he's got one. And the hope is that now that he has this job and that he's in place for four more years, that he will continue to live by that deal and continue to do everything he can to elevate the US men's national team to heights beyond what they already have right now, which that ceiling seems to be the round of 16 at a World Cup. Can we get beyond that push through to a quarter final push through to even a semi final or having willing a final in 31 matches as the as the men's national team head coach, since he joined in September 2020 for Pochettino's record 17 wins 12 losses and two draws. But at the World Cup, despite the ending against Belgium, he set records for most World Cup wins by US men's national team head coach at a single World Cup and also in general and led the team to its first knockout stage win since 2002 and just the second in its history. So he has those highs. He also has the lows of that March in June 2025 string where he lost four straight. He had a five match on beaten streak from September to November of 2025 and then kind of fell off the rails in March against Belgium and Portugal. But still was able to take this team to the round of 16 for the World Cup, which is exactly where at this point now it feels like we all should expect them to get because as the 16th ranked team in the world, you get to the round of 16, you're you're batting your weight at least. So we're at least that the Mendoza line and now it's time to aim higher. Now what's next? I think when it comes to the Mendoza national team, the one thing that Mauricio Pochettino has it done is win a trophy. All the other coaches before him have won a trophy of some sort, whether it be a goal cup, nature's league, what have you? But a trophy needs to be won. And so we gone are the days where people are expecting us to take tournaments off. With this newfound height train around the Mendoza national team, the interest of soccer from fans all across the country. Now the expectation is to deliver on this jump, this leap, this growth in interest. We have to deliver in the way that that happens in the United States is by winning. So in the next year, before World Cup qualifying starts in September, October of next year, we have kind of a calf nation's league. We have the kind of a calf goal cup. Everyone who was listened to my voice knows what I think of the nation's league. I think is the greatest tournament because it allows us to go to islands, but it also allows us another opportunity to show dominance over a concoca calf. And for the first three iterations of this tournament, we did that. But we need to figure out now how to reclaim the trophy for the first time because Mexico has it. Mexico has the concoca calf goal cup. We have to win that. Those are things that people now expect us to do and they expect us to put out the best team possible to do it. But at the same time, there is going to be transitional these next four years for Mauricio Puchotino. And he has to be correct in some of those decisions, whether it's who we bring back, whether it's who we say goodbye to, whether it's the younger group and by younger group, I mean the under 23s. We have to oversee a team now going to the U20 World Cup. We have the Olympics in two years where the U23s plus a few overage players would be able to compete. But that's the future of this national team. Some of those players have to be involved in this national team when we get around to work or qualifying, especially if we qualify for the 2030 World Cup. We cannot rely on the same guys that we had in 2026. That's part of the growth of this program is to figure out who the next players are going to be going out and get into a kind of banks recruiting a Xavier Gozo. Kevin Sullivan, seeing what he can do as he turns of age. He turns close to 18 and he starts to go abroad. But before that, when he's at Philadelphia and he's arguably their best player, bring him in and see what's up. And that's where some of these friendlies coming up could serve as opportunities. But also the Nation's League quarterfinals are in November. So we get right back to competitive matches in November with an eye on the ConquerCaff Nation's League finals in March. And then again, preparing for the goal cut next summer, which could be held in Mexico, it could be held in the United States. We will see. But winning trophies has got to be part of this program because a lot of people are still thinking that the United States has to look beyond ConquerCaff and to qualify for a World Cup right now, you have to beat ConquerCaff. You have to beat these teams. You have to be the team that entering, if you're the top 16 team in the world, you should be winning trophies. Doesn't matter how easy you may think it is to get to those trophies, but you still got to win them. And there was a while where we had them all. For a few years, we had the Nation's League trophy, we had the ConquerCaff trophy, a goal cup trophy. We had the U20 championship, the U17 championship, we up and down every single ConquerCaff trophy there was to be earned the United States had it. And now we don't have any of them. And the U20s lost in the final to Mexico. Mexico holds all of these trophies. And so now we have to figure out how to get those back. And sure, Marissa Puchteno is not going to be involved in the youth part of things, but he's going to have some influence on how those decisions are shaped because the senior national team is what kind of sets the agenda for everybody else. So we have to be a part of that equation. He has to be figuring out how to scout guys and get them into positions where they are playing terrifically for their club on a regular basis. They're starting on a regular basis. They're getting better and then translating that to the national team. And he has to get the most out of those players. But now being a part of this for the next four years, hopefully, right? Because things can change, obviously. This can help, again, bring some stability and then some continuity. And guys will know what to expect and hopefully go out and bring that. And that will mean for Nations League, not leaving guys at home for the goal cup, it means some of those guys who say that they're the stars, they got to show up and they got to deliver because all of these other teams are bringing their a squats and gone are the days where we can bring a C squad and win this thing. We have to show that these are important. And now with the rising interest in this game and in this national team, we have to show fans that we take every tournament seriously. And so that means bringing our a lineups where we can, obviously, you have to be strategic sometimes with who you bring, but bring in our a lineups for all of these tournaments moving forward. We can't rely on having Copa America, though it seems like, according to reports, that we will be involved in some way. But we can't rely on that. We can't rely on the Olympics. We can't rely on just woke up qualifying for people to sustain their inches. We have competitive matches coming up this fall. And we have a whole tournament next summer to look forward to. So we have to get ready. We have to qualify for the goal cup by getting to the ConquerCaf Nations League finals. And then let's win two trophies in 2025. That should be Positinos approach. And it'll be I'll be curious to see how he continues to evolve this national team under his tenure. So it's, it's a waiting game, obviously, but we are not going to have to wait long to see this national team back on the main stage. Speaking of the national team and speaking of this fall, before the Nations League quarterfinals in November, there are some matches that will be taking place in this newly created September, October window for the men. The women will also have games in October. They don't have a September window anymore. They now have an October window and we'll talk about their games in a second. But for the men, it starts on September 26th their first game since the World Cup will be at Inter.co Stadium in Orlando and they'll be taking on Peru. They then move on to St. Louis Energizer Park on September 29th to take on Chile. And then they get a few days off. They move out West to Glendale, Arizona outside Phoenix. State Farm Stadium is the scene. It will be Mexico once again on October 3rd. And then finishing out this double window will be a match against Canada on October 6th at Aliensfield in St. Paul, Minnesota. Four friendly because the Nations League is going through the group stage and the United States is has a buy through the group stage of Nations League. I'll save my rant on that for World ConquerCalf podcast in another day. But four friendlies and again, four decent friendlies to get this team back into the swing of things after the World Cup. Peru and Chile, of course, commable teams. Commable is really the only confederation outside of ConquerCalf, the four best teams of ConquerCalf that aren't doing anything with regards to qualifying or Nations League or something like that. So we get Peru, we get Chile, which I think is our two solid matchups. And then, of course, we get the other co-hosts of the World Cup, Mexico and Canada. It felt like there was a given. I know we didn't want to necessarily play them so soon after the World Cup, but those are two big time friendlies. And again, a good chance to test us and kind of establish the momentum here of saying, hey, it's a new cycle. And when you look at ConquerCalf, you should think of the United States as the top team in ConquerCalf. That's how they got to approach it. And it also kind of will be a homecoming of sorts. And I say homecoming because we just played a World Cup at home. But that Peru match would be one again, the first match after the World Cup has ended. And it's a good way to welcome everybody back into the fold and to say, hey, this is a new cycle. We got four more years. Let's ride. Let's get this to it together. And let's start this momentum and really start to build this national team back up to what we think it could be in 2030. On the other side, we have the women's national team and they have two friendlies in October, both against the number one team in the world. So we will have number one versus number two in the women's rankings facing off against each other. And one of them is right here in my hometown at DC. US will face Spain on October 10th at Audi Field and DC. Followed by a match at Subaru Park outside of Philadelphia in Chester. That will be on October 13th. And I mean, the last two matches before they go to their World Qualifying Tournament, the ConquerCalf Women's Championship. That is a doozy. One versus two. It's a great way to test their medal against the best team on the planet. And the nation, which holds now both the men's and women's World Cup trophies. And so for the women, they've kind of been in flux, right? They are having to deal with some injury issues. Olivia Mulchery just tore her ACLs. She's out. Emily sign it. Just tore something. She's out for the year. We're getting some players back. Mel Swanson's back in the fold. But it's about time for some of these younger players to assert themselves and show that they can be a part of this. And to be the team that can bring a women's World Cup back home from Brazil, should they qualify? This is going to be a big test. And M.O. Hayes is going to have to see what she has with some of these players. And can they step up to the ultimate test, which is going up against the defending World Cup champions in Spain? I'm looking forward to this. I'm so glad that it's coming here. So I don't have to move. And then me and my friends are going to drive up the road a little bit to Philadelphia to catch that game and spend some time there. And so I'm looking forward to those two matchups. They're going to be a lot of fun. And also a huge, huge test to kind of see where this women's national team is before they get ready for women's World Cup qualifying in Texas in November and December. Let's take a quick break. On the other side, we're going to talk about all of this fees of MS and what's next for the beleaguered organization. And it's present. We'll be right back. Hey, everyone. Are you looking for the latest gear for your U.S. national teams, Major League Soccer, the NWSL, or any other team in the World Soccer? The USA Soccer Test has affiliate partnerships that are ready to help you out. Head to linktree.com. Slash USA Soccer Test, where we have links to homage, genetics, the MLS store, and breaking fees. You can get the jersey, shirt, hat, or accessory you're looking for to support your team while also saving some money and helping this show in the process. Again, linktree.com. Slash USA Soccer Test. Click on the links and get your gear. And we thank you as always for your support of the show. We're back and we shift our attention to the world of soccer. We're leaving American Soccer in the dust for just a second because this FIFA mess is out of control and we're not going to get into all of it. But as it stands right now, there is a big question about what FIFA is going to do when it comes to this election and when it comes to reestablishing trust with the world of soccer and just the world at large because Gianni Infantino is, I'll say, he's being nuts with this plan to sell off the world cup to private equity. It doesn't matter who is at the helm of it. And in this case, it was the brother of Jared Kushner who was leading the charge to try and buy pieces of this world cup for profit. But to have Gianni Infantino kind of go rogue from the rest in the organization, only for the organization to kind of put out all these statements probably with his influence to show support for him is just outright outlandish. And it has taken confederation stepping up to the plate to say, this is not cool. And this guy cannot continue in this office with what he's doing right now. UEFA was the first to put out a statement a couple weeks ago saying, after this FIFA forward nonsense came through, they said they were going to boycott all FIFA events until if that was passed and that was put into motion. They are followed by almost every confederation around the world. Kakakaf came in, Asia came in, Oceanic came in. And then finally, there was some tepid, you know, back and forth between Commable who wants a 64 team world cup because they want to get more games in 2030 in Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay. And then Africa who wants who said they want to hear Infantino out, but there was no need to hear Infantino out when it came to this particular piece of nonsense that he was trying to push through. It ultimately fell apart. And now Infantino's jobs at risk because he's up for re-election next year. And before all this, he was in many ways going to be untouchable. Nobody was going to run for re-election against him. He was going to waltz in, unopposed, and basically get an acclamation vote for what he brought to the table. And that was despite how he did this, a world cup that presented the biggest revenue that FIFA has ever seen, $16 billion. And he took that and said, we're broke, we need more money. And I'm sure a lot of federations and confederations was like, how did you get to that? You just brought in more money than you've ever dreamed of. Three times more than they had ever brought in on a world cup. And your first response to that was to say, we broke, we need more money. And these guys are going to give us more. It was a power play. It was a way for him to kind of put himself into power forever. And sure, he's following kind of the mentorship and guidance of some people that we don't need to discuss on this show. But now we have this joint statement from Kaka-Kath, UEFA, and the Asian Football Federation. They put out a joint statement based on saying, infatinos got to go. And their needs be changed. And infatino is the man that needs to go. He needs to change. And so I want to talk quickly about one aspect of that. In US Soccer, a lot of people have asked for US Soccer to put out their own statement. And they've, I don't think they need to be putting out their own statement on these things. But they have been co-signing on to everything that Kaka-Kath has been putting out saying, we are in full agreement. And it's a big deal because, of course, the United States with kind of the United States political administration government was the reason why a lot of this is happening. And a lot of these ideas that infatino has are starting to try and be put forth to go into motion. So for US Soccer to kind of go against the administration and say, hey, no, we don't agree with this. This is not good. And we don't approve of this. And we don't support it is important. But their statement the other day with the joint statement from the three confederations was telling. Because they basically said that US Soccer joins Canada Soccer, the Caribbean football union, and the Union Central Americana de Football, which is the Central American football union, in supporting Kaka-Kath's statement and their joint statement with the ASE and UEFA. They listed every team in Kaka-Kath except Mexico. And rumors were flying that it was because that Mexico was not really supporting Kaka-Kath's statement that they have been siding silently with Johnny and Fentino. And the rumors were saying that it's because at least one rumor was saying it's because if Fentino promised Mexico that he would help them move to common bowl if they supported his reelection bid. And they've been, they've put out a statement basically supporting the evolution of the FIFA forward plan and basically supporting Johnny and Fentino and saying, hey, we're not going to support trying to take him out and try to you know, get him out of the presidency. So they're really the only Kaka-Kath team that's backing him up at this point. And even if they were trying to move to common bowl, and this is something that a lot of people have said the United States should do, if they were doing that because they want to support this guy, then let him go. But you got to punish him. You got to take away everything that they feel makes them successful. And it is all dealing with money. It all comes back to money. Johnny and Fentino was putting this plan forward because it will make him more money and give him more power. Mexico would want to move the common bowl because they still think that they can bring anyone they want to the United States to play, but also they get the benefit of playing big games in South America, but also having the Argentina's in the Brazil's come to Mexico for work of qualifying, which are big, big gates filling up Azteca to play those teams in charging a lot of money. Even UEFA, right, with all of their boycotting and their outright dismissal of these plans and of Infentino himself, they have done this in the past where the money wasn't coming towards them. So they step out in front and say, this is not good for the game. When all these people really are saying, these aren't good for our pockets. And I think at the end, we have to kind of compartment wise that. And so that all of this is about money. If Mexico plays in the United States, it's not because they couldn't find a venue in Mexico, because they think they can make more money playing that game in the United States. And by cutting that off, by U.S. soccer couldn't that off. And honestly, if they moved the common bowl, they would have to get the approval of both U.S. soccer and coca-calf and FIFA to play that game in the United States. Now, that's three avenues. FIFA would say yes, but would coca-calf the United States cut them off. Finally, that's a big question, because that is what's going to allow them to continue to do what they do. If they can't get the money that they would get from games in the United States, where they can get these money grab friendlies and big stadiums and sell them out and get a lot of cash, then that's not going to sustain with them traveling to South America all the time for a grueling world cup qualifying campaign, where they may not qualify, which will also lose the money. FIFA has to get their head on straight, and I feel like a lot of these people that are in these positions on the FIFA council, the biggest council, and also to the main executive council, need to step up. They need to make sure that this game remains affordable and accessible to everyone, that the world cup remains affordable and accessible and not do what we did this year in 2026 with regards to the price of tickets. They need to understand that they are not football, they are not soccer, we are, you, me, everyone. We're the ones that make this thing go around, the people, and they have forgotten that a long time ago. I need to figure that out, because right now what they're doing is trying to use the people to throw a wedge between their opponents and their money, and that's not what this is all about. We are not pawns in this. We are the ones that have to, that we want to travel, see these teams play. We want to travel, see our national team play in Orlando, in Antigua and Barbuda, in Australia. We want to see them play, and we're the ones, the money that they're talking about, they're being separated from, it's our money, that they're being separated from. And so I'm hoping that somebody, anybody, well, it's going to take a few people at FIFA to be the adult in the room, to walk in there and say, this is stupid. And to have embraced the debate, not just for president, but for future World Cup bids. We've kind of eliminated the World Cup bidding process because Infantino has done so well at influencing everybody to make it where he can steer these World Cups to where he wants to where he thinks he can make the most money, whether it be for hammer for the organization. FIFA's a nonprofit, but they should be soliciting the competition. They should be soliciting bids. They should be soliciting debate. They should be in the business of making this game accessible to everyone from Barbados to Brunei. They have to be the world's leaders, but they should not be in it for the power and the money and the glory. It should be in it for the soccer. And that's where FIFA lost the plot a long time ago. So we'll see what happens with this whole FIFA forward thing also with Johnny Infantino's president. We'll see if UEFA continues to stick by its guns and boycott things. And I hate that they are starting with potentially women's tournaments because the women should not be involved in this. They've done nothing wrong. And for them to be the pawn that they're using in this chess game doesn't make a lot of sense. And frankly, it's hurtful for the women's teams who have prepared and fought for the the meager access and resources that they do get. Now they're being asked to give that up for the men's game. And I think that's just terrible. But hopefully this, someone can be an adult in the room and put forward a plan that'll allow FIFA to move forward without Infantino, without some of the corruption that's in that organization and without some of the BS that plays everything that they do. But it's going to take a lot of people to do that. It's going to take a lot of people to kind of swallow some pride and say we have to lead in this thing and we have to make it where the people playing this game from the Barrios and the neighborhoods to the rooftops. Those are the people we need to be putting first. The national teams making sure that they're able to play games and get to games and have competitions and have it affordable so that their families can come, their friends can come, fans can travel to these games, making that process easier so that more people come and they can't be denied an opportunity to see their team play because of politics. That's what we're at and a lot of stuff in the state of football is in flux because one man decided to bite off way more than the world could chew. That will do it for episode 197 of the USA Soccer Cast. Thank you for listening. Remember, you can find us on Blue Sky, Twitter and YouTube. Follow us on all those sites at USA Soccer Cast. Subscribe, rate, and review our shows. It helps us get in front of new people and it's greatly appreciated. Tell your friends about this. Finally, head to linktree.com slash USA Soccer Cast to check out our affiliate links and our stimulus store. We have everything you need to follow the beautiful game and using those links also helps support the show. We'll talk to you again soon,