Mauricio Pochettino’s most recent press conference should have been a routine affair. The US had lost 3-2 to Turkey, yes, but they’d played well enough in the second-half aside from conceding the last-minute winner. What’s more, the match was statistically meaningless, with the US having secured top spot in Group D days earlier. It was their best ever World Cup group-stage showing
Instead, the team’s head coach went out of his way to chide those in attendance.
“At the moment, no one congratulated us for finishing first in a very difficult group,” said Pochettino at one point. “Maybe I am confused, but the mood, the vibes [in here] is like we go home tonight and Turkey stays … it cannot be possible that Turkey finishes celebrating the three points, Australia is celebrating the qualification, Paraguay celebrating the qualification, and [I] come here, and for you not to say congratulations, that we won the group. That is a little bit sad.”
It was one of several points in the gathering that Pochettino referenced a perceived negativity among the press pack. And it was bizarre. The media had congratulated Pochettino and his players, implicitly or otherwise, for most of this World Cup. And deservedly so: the type of performance that the US rolled out in their opener against Paraguay (and, to an extent, their victory over Australia) was the stuff of fantasy.
On Thursday evening, he only faced a series of obvious questions, the type any head coach of any national team would get after dropping a third group-stage game with no impact on the standings. How will this affect your side’s momentum? What was your thinking behind the heavily rotated squad? These were not criticisms of Pochettino’s decision-making; they were an opportunity for him to explain. It seems he took them a different way.
“[Momentum] is a topic that I don’t understand,” Pochettino said. “What is momentum? To play with the same team that we played against Australia? And to take the risk of receiving a yellow card and not to play the next game? Did Germany lose the momentum too [in their 2-1 loss to Ecuador]? I don’t know. [There are] too many topics in soccer that I don’t understand.”
Pochettino’s relationship with the US press pack has been mostly affable, but this is not the first time he has responded to our questions with confusion or frustration. Understanding why requires an examination of a few things, not the least of which is the differing relationships managers have with media in the United States compared to abroad, particularly South and Central America. It is common in those cultures to hear a journalist not just congratulate a coach for a good performance, but exchange friendly, casual banter with them during a press conference. There is a warmth that exists between coaches of certain teams and the reporters, and even a personal touch.
Argentina head coach Lionel Scaloni, who can certainly be prickly when he wants to be, has used moments in his own pressers to share personal memories with ex-teammates who now cover the team, or celebrate longtime members of the media. Mexico’s Javier Aguirre is playfully combative with reporters. They are far from the only coaches who enjoy this type of relationship with media.
In the US, journalists stress objectivity, or at least effort at it. Congratulating a coach on a win or other achievement could be perceived as a betrayal of that objectivity, whether it is or isn’t. There are exceptions, of course – say, after a championship game, or in the wake of a big-time broken record. Generally speaking, though, we ask questions to understand how things happened, or why decisions were made, and we ask them in a fairly businesslike manner.
At a World Cup, or any other international tournament for that matter, these cultural differences are easily visible when journalists and influencers from abroad are spotted in press boxes cheering for the teams they’re covering, or even wearing the jerseys of those teams – a big no-no in anglocentric sports journalism.
Pochettino also butted heads with the media after the US’s surprising 5-1 victory over Uruguay last year. In that match, the USMNT marched out a rotated XI that featured three players who didn’t make this World Cup roster. Two of those players scored that night. John Tolkin and Aidan Morris played nearly the entire match. Fans were understandably encouraged by the fact that the US beat a quality opponent without many of the players who usually feature for the team, and Pochettino was understandably asked for his feelings. He didn’t respond well, going after the first three reporters who spoke at his post-game press conference, objecting to the use of the term “regulars” to describe those players who didn’t play that night.
“Maybe we need to stop the press conference,” Pochettino said. “And maybe I need to go to the dressing room and come back and start again the press conference because it’s like we lost 5-1. I am the USA coach, not any other.”
He was then asked a question by a Spanish-language journalist, which is only of note because of the way the reporter began his question: “Profe, buenas noches, quiero felicitar lo por el gran triunfo.” I want to congratulate you for the great win. He called the performance encouraging, referring to Uruguay as an elite international side. Pochettino’s affect changed entirely as he responded: “I’m going to respond to your question with the respect that you offered me with your question,” he said.
Both questions could have elicited good answers, and both were asked by seasoned professionals at the top of their craft. The difference is entirely cultural.
Pochettino’s response to conflict is made more peculiar, at times, by another obvious fact – he spent long stretches of his coaching career operating at the very highest level in Europe, at times facing blistering criticism from British, Spanish and French journalists alike. As a player, he represented Argentina during the 2002 World Cup, among their most disappointing showings, and answered tough questions during his very distinguished club career as well. Perhaps his perception of journalists abroad differs from how he sees the landscape in the United States.
As for why Pochettino wasn’t congratulated by the media last week? That feels simpler: he’d already been getting lauded for days, and he deserved it. Those in attendance on Thursday night were focused on the result which had just unfolded minutes before, and more importantly, the task ahead. All three of the US’ group-stage results were encouraging in their own way, but they’ll likely be forgotten if the US lose against Bosnia and Herzegovina on Wednesday, or even in the last-16, should they make it there.
Pochettino minimized the importance of the third game, suggesting that the stuff that really matters started in the days after, leading up to the Bosnia and Herzegovina match.
If the US start breaking new ground there? Well, that’s an entirely different story.
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