Mauricio Pochettino's links to Manchester United a natural consequence of USMNT's big swing to hire him

The patterns of the international match calendar are well known at this point. Players pack their suitcases, board planes, spend a small stretch of days with their compatriots … and in the U.S. men's national team's case, answer questions about their coach landing a new job.

From the moment Mauricio Pochettino walked into a midtown Manhattan auditorium two years ago to make his opening remarks as the USMNT head coach, his presence has felt temporary to many. It was not just because job security is an increasingly unrealistic concept for soccer coaches, nor was it only down to the fact that Pochettino initially signed a deal that would expire 22 months later. The last two years have been full of reminders that the USMNT job is one of several that could be available to him – he has openly talked about wanting to return to the Premier League, did not deny that his representatives may have met with AC Milan in the weeks before the World Cup and regularly talks about his undying love for Tottenham Hotspur. The latest iteration of a years-long pattern came Tuesday, when reports out of England suggested Pochettino was a top contender for the Manchester United gig, which is not vacant yet but will be once the club finally parts ways with Michael Carrick.

The cadence is unusual, since coaches rarely invite reasonable questions about seeking employment elsewhere. At this stage of Pochettino's tenure with the U.S. team, though, it would be difficult to characterize it as a surprise. It would be equally hard to argue that the pattern does not come with the territory, defender Antonee Robinson acknowledging as much hours after the news broke.

"That news kind of got sprung on us, like the rest of the world, I'd say," he said. "Similar things happened in the past, happened at the World Cup where huge teams lose their manager and they start looking at possible candidates and for us to have a manager who's linked with those sorts of jobs means we're very lucky to work with a top-level manager but it never seems to leak into the work we do, whether it's the World Cup or whether it's going to be this camp."

Pochettino's wantaway pattern may be annoying but it reflects the overarching sentiment of his tenure with the USMNT thus far. He is easily the highest-profile coach to take the job and U.S. Soccer is well aware of that. It is why they lined up donors to secure his signature two years ago to make him the federation's highest-paid coach ever, and why there is reportedly a $10 million buyout clause in the new deal he signed after the World Cup. For the first time in the program's modern history, they hired a coach with genuine international appeal. Even if Robinson should instead spend his time talking about the upcoming Concacaf Nations League quarterfinals against Haiti, the fact that Pochettino would be courted by others was baked into his appeal.

"Even when we first met a couple summers ago, there were lots of other people interested in having Mauricio and team join," U.S. Soccer CEO J.T. Batson said in May as chatter around the Milan job took center stage in the early days of the USMNT's World Cup preparations. "He had standing offers from other places to come. He wanted to be here. He's a big believer in what we're doing at U.S. Soccer. He's a big believer in soccer in America and he's a big believer in this men's team and so, throughout this entire process, when you have top-class talent, whether it's salespeople, whether it's marketing people or whether it's coaches, other organizations want them and throughout this, Mauricio and team have been incredibly transparent. They've been great partners and are, of course, excited about the summer … There's been a longer list of outreach than what has even been reported and so they've been great about that."

The key difference here is that he reportedly might be interested in United's offer, according to the Guardian, but the situation remains the same, despite the timing being strange, three months after agreeing a four-year deal. If Pochettino does not end up on United's touchline, his time with the USMNT was never destined to last forever, and U.S. Soccer admitted to it months ago.

"We actually, on a monthly basis, have a succession planning session for all of our coaches across all of our teams and so as a part of that, we have plans for renewals," Batson said on that May day. "We have plans for interims and we have plans for replacements because you never know what's going to happen. It's a global sport, lots going on and so that's a standard part of us growing up as U.S. Soccer."

Where should the USMNT go from here?

Many might spend the subsequent weeks after Pochettino's hypothetical departure questioning Batson's claim that the Argentine is actually a "big believer in soccer in America," though the argument is irrelevant as far as the USMNT goes. Pochettino's hire, along with that of U.S. women's national team head coach Emma Hayes a year earlier, was a large statement of intent from U.S. Soccer's leaders like Batson and president Cindy Parlow Cone, who are relatively new to their jobs. Pochettino's exit, therefore, would raise the question of how they continue that vision two years later, especially after outlining an ambitious path for the men's program in the coming years.

High-profile candidates like Pochettino are not exactly easy to come by, as the initial effort to hire him demonstrated. Ex-Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola is easily the most notable name on the market but it is entirely unclear what his next coaching move might be, even if that should not discourage U.S. Soccer from reaching out if they have a vacancy. The options thin out from there if they are only to be measured on their flair, though, making it hard to envision a perfect follow-up act to Pochettino in the short term.

There is a theory that U.S. Soccer may be resigned to picking from a locally sourced talent pool, something that is reinforced by a suggestion that Pochettino was a false steward of American soccer. His departure, if it comes in the short term, is not actually an indictment on U.S. Soccer's approach, nor should it encourage the federation to go for the safest pick next. Pochettino's tenure, at least up until this point, has been an example in reaping rewards for a bold strategy, one that should continue long after he is gone.

Pochettino's time with the USMNT has so far been characterized by mixed results, including some low lows that he bears just as much responsibility for as his players. It is not hard to see why he was a good fit for the job, though, and it is not because he makes headlines – his high-intensity, attack-minded style of play actually suited the player pool. The fact that he has coached in a UEFA Champions League final and won a Ligue 1 title with Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappe and Neymar may help with player buy-in, but it would not have papered over the cracks if his version of the USMNT was not actually a decent marriage between his tactical preferences and the players' natural skillsets.

He continues to feel like a good fit in the post-World Cup months, especially as he oversees a generational shift in the player pool. Pochettino's tenure at Spurs, where he initially made a name for himself as a coach, was defined by his trust in young players but as it pertains to the USMNT's up-and-comers specifically, they already seem well-positioned to slot into his tactical set-up. The team's next great prospects are almost all exclusively attackers; Neil Pierre, the Philadelphia Union 19-year-old in the midst of a breakout season, is so far one of the few notable exceptions at center back.

A quote-unquote big name might not be a realistic option for the USMNT if Pochettino leaves now, though he may have theoretically made the gig more attractive to prospective coaches. More importantly, though, U.S. Soccer is now well-positioned to make a hire based on style and specifically an entertaining and effective style that captured the attention of an otherwise uninterested nation during the World Cup. Straying from that, no matter if Pochettino's successor is world renowned or otherwise, would not match the potential of the USMNT's rising stars, nor would it align with U.S. Soccer's own vision.