Mauricio Pochettino was brought back down to earth with a bump on Tuesday night after his USA team were handed a brutal first defeat against bitter rival Mexico.
Former Tottenham and Chelsea manager Pochettino won his first game in charge of the US national team against Panama on Saturday night, but a trip to Guadalajara ended in a woeful 2-0 loss just three days later.
After a promising start, and plenty of optimism from fans, social media was flooded with negativity during the loss to Mexico, with fans even labeling the new manager a ‘fraud’ as cameras caught him looking distraught on the sidelines.
‘Welcome to Pochettino ball,’ one soccer fan wrote on X. ‘The guy who couldn’t win French Ligue 1 With players like Mbappe, Neymar, Di Maria, Veratti etc.’
A USMNT fan quickly took aim at both Pochettino and the national team set-up more generally writing: ‘Absolutely f***ing disgraceful, and embarrassing.
Mauricio Pochettino struggled to hide his dismay on the sidelines in Guadalajara on Tuesday
His team were soundly beaten 2-0 by their biggest rivals Mexico in Pochettino’s second game
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‘F*** the USSD, f*** Pochettino, and f*** whoever made the call to send our best players home against our biggest rivals.’
Former USMNT star Taylor Twellman also took to social media to call the performance a ‘disaster’, and he retweeted a post which slammed Pochettino for taking too many risks.
The message, from a popular fan account, read: ‘Poch my man, I understand you’re new to all of this but that 1st half can, under no circumstances, ever happen again.
‘You’ll eventually figure it out like you did at Chelsea but you can’t take risks like that ever again in the midfield.’
Another USMNT fan called the friendly loss to Mexico ‘unacceptable’, while one other supporter wrote: ‘How did we get worse under Pochettino?’
Pochettino now has plenty of thinking to do ahead of his first competitive game next month
In the game in a raucous Guadalajara, Fulham striker Raul Jimenez opened the scoring for the home side, before Cesar Huerta doubled the lead.
In the 90 minutes, Pochettino’s USA side could only manage one shot on target.
After his one win, one loss start as national team manager, Pochettino now has a month to prepare for his first competitive game, in the Nations League in St Louis next month.
US fans will be desperate for the former Premier League boss to stamp his mark on the team, with a home World Cup fast approaching in 2026.
