USMNT's Christian Pulisic on potential Mauricio Pochettino coaching hire: 'It's time for a change'

Pochettino is being lined up as a successor to Gregg Berhalter, who was fired in July, and the Milan man likes what he sees

By Pardeep Cattry Sep 10, 2024 at 7:19 pm ET• 2 min read

U.S. men's national team star Christian Pulisic became the latest player to publicly back Mauricio Pochettino, who has reportedly agreed to become the national team's new head coach ahead of the 2026 World Cup on home soil.

"I think it's good news," Pulisic told CBS ahead of AC Milan's 2-1 loss at Parma on Saturday. "I think it's time for a change. It's time for us to take another step and really improve as a team and leading up to this World Cup, we need to find some good results and build some momentum leading up to that moment."

With reports that Mauricio Pochettino is set to become the new USMNT manager, what does captain @pulisic think about the hire? 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/FYethqsbrq

— Golazo America (@GolazoAmerica) August 24, 2024

Pulisic is the latest USMNT player to support the potential hire. Club and country teammate Yunus Musah telling CBS Sports Golazo Network's Morning Footy on Thursday that Pochettino will "be able to help a lot," while days earlier, Antonee Robinson told NBC that the incoming manager has "two years to get the best out of" the group.

The disappointment of this summer's Copa America still looms large for the USMNT, who hoped for a statement-making run at the expanded version of the South American championship but instead crashed out in the group stages. U.S. Soccer soon fired then-head coach Gregg Berhalter and aspired to land a high-profile successor with eyes on the 2026 World Cup, and are set to do just that with Pochettino, who has years of experience in the Premier League and Ligue 1.