Pochettino Leaves USMNT for Manchester United After Tearful Goodbye

By The Arena Staff

FAYETTEVILLE, Ga., Nov. 13, 2026 — Mauricio Pochettino tried to get through his goodbye and couldn't quite manage it.

"It's difficult to talk now," he said Friday, according to BBC Sport. "I'm a very emotional guy. It's a very sad decision."

U.S. Soccer announced Friday that Pochettino will leave as head coach of the men's national team after the current camp to take over at Manchester United. He will still coach the Americans in both legs of their Concacaf Nations League quarterfinal against Haiti, Saturday in Miami and Tuesday in Cincinnati, and then head to England. The Associated Press reported he signed a two-and-a-half-year contract and takes charge on Nov. 18, four days before United play at Liverpool.

The timing stings for the U.S. side. Pochettino signed a new four-year deal with the federation only this summer, BBC Sport reported. Asked why he would walk away from it, he was blunt about the pull of Old Trafford. "There aren't too many opportunities that happen in your career like Manchester United," he said, according to the BBC. "When it arrives, it's difficult to turn down."

He spoke at the U.S. Soccer National Training Center outside Atlanta with federation president Cindy Parlow Cone and CEO JT Batson on either side of him, the same two who were part of his introduction two years ago. U.S. Soccer said they steadied him as he wiped away tears. "I want to say thank you, thank you, thank you so much," Pochettino said, telling the federation that over the last two years "you made me feel really happy doing my job."

He leaves with a real résumé. Hired in September 2024, Pochettino went 21-12-2 in 35 matches, took the team to the 2025 Gold Cup final and, at the home World Cup this summer, won the group and reached the Round of 16 with the program's first knockout-round win since 2002, according to U.S. Soccer. His three wins at the tournament are the most by any U.S. men's coach at a World Cup.

What he walks into is a mess. United fired Michael Carrick on Thursday after the club's worst start to a domestic campaign in 40 years, BBC Sport reported, and they sit 18th in the Premier League, in the relegation zone, after 10 games. Pochettino becomes United's eighth permanent manager since Sir Alex Ferguson retired in 2013, the AP noted.

The federation did not name a successor Friday. Batson called the job "one of the great coaching jobs in the world," and U.S. Soccer said U-23 coach Steve Cherundolo will run the men's December camp, which ends with a match against Jamaica on Dec. 13 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Sourcing: U.S. Soccer, BBC Sport and The Associated Press.