Pochettino, ‘jealous’ of CFB atmospheres, wants Americans to share same passion with soccer

MORRISTOWN, N.J. — For Mauricio Pochettino, the 2025 Gold Cup doubled as a crash course in American soccer culture. First in half-empty stadiums, then in front of hostile crowds on home soil, the Argentine coach of the U.S. men’s national team seemed shocked by the lack of public passion for his team.

After a Gold Cup semifinal against Guatemala and a final against Mexico, he spoke about the missing emotional connection between U.S. players and fans. “The fans,” he said, “have one year to realize how important fans are in soccer.”

Ahead of his next USMNT camp, though, he learned that such passion exists in the United States — for the other type of football.

Last Saturday, Pochettino visited Columbus, Ohio, for the Week 1 college football showdown between the universities of Ohio State and Texas. He stood among a crowd of 107,524 people, nearly all wearing red and silver for the Buckeyes. “It was amazing,” Pochettino said Friday ahead of the USMNT’s first of two September games (Saturday against South Korea).

“For me, it was a massive surprise,” Pochettino continued. “I’m 53. It’s difficult to have this type of surprise. But to live the atmosphere that we lived there, three hours before, seeing the passion of the people, the atmosphere … the fans in the stadium, 100,000. I was so jealous.”

4th and Goal DENIED @OhioStateFB defense with the BIG STOP#FOXFieldPass pic.twitter.com/CZCM7llTyW

— FOX College Football (@CFBONFOX) August 30, 2025

He was jealous, of course, because that type of passion often doesn’t follow the USMNT or any U.S. soccer team.

“I was so jealous, I said, ‘I want to coach these teams. I want to be next,’” Pochettino said with a wide smile and a laugh.

Throughout his three decades in soccer, he has played for and coached teams boosted by similar passion. He has seen it at Newell’s Old Boys and Espanyol, at Tottenham and Paris Saint-Germain.

When he didn’t see it this summer — or when he saw it for Guatemala in St. Louis, and when he saw it for Mexico in Houston — he called it out.

“The fans gave to you, to Guatemala, an unbelievable energy,” he said after the U.S. squeaked past Los Chapines in the semis. “That is football. That is football. When we say the connection between the fans and the team, that is the connection that we like to see in the World Cup. That connection that makes you fly. The energy that translates.”

He said he saw Guatemala players crying after the loss and noted, “That is the way that we need to feel. And our fans need to feel the same. It’s not to come here to enjoy all the spectacle, and if you lose, nothing happens. … You play for your pride. … When we talk about culture, that is culture. … That is an important thing that we need to learn here in this country.”

Pochettino saw an example of that kind of sports culture at 9 a.m. last Saturday, when he appeared on Fox’s Big Noon Kickoff pregame show in Columbus. He led an “O-H-I-O” chant. “We really feel the passion of the people here in this country,” he said Friday.

OH-IO@USMNT Head Coach Mauricio Pochettino get the @OhioStateFB crowd going pic.twitter.com/jK57d6ntEI

— Big Noon Kickoff (@BNKonFOX) August 30, 2025

And he knows that part of his job, as USMNT coach, is to try to create that passion for soccer.

He talked Friday about being a “representative or ambassador” for the sport.

“I think I feel a little bit of responsibility,” Pochettino said. “It’s our responsibility to translate to all these people that maybe are more focused on another sport like football, American football. It’s to try to convince them (to) share with soccer that passion.

“If only a little bit we can translate to our sport, I think our players will appreciate a lot, and for sure (the fans) will help us to achieve or earn what we want.”

(Photo: Stephen Maturen / Getty Images)

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