The energy, warmth and vibrant feeling of pleasure is all there. A break of daily club management, it seems, has done wonders for Mauricio Pochettino that arrives for our interview relaxed, happy and full of enthusiasm after lunch in the London Sunshine.
It was a very different pochettino than the one I last saw 10 months ago, a few weeks ago before I left Chelsea. He is about to jump back in a plane to the US to prepare his side to enter into Panama in the Concacaf-Halve Final prior to the World Cup of next year, which the US together with Mexico and Canada. However, on this sunny day in London, life could have seen very differently for the Argentinian, where football is football and certainly not football.
His departure from Chelsea after he and the club “mutually agreed to leave”, surprised what after he had finished the season strongly and Led Chelsea to a competition cup final, the FA Cup semi-final and a sixth placed finish to get the Europa Conference League qualification.
By the time he left, there was a growing harmony with the most fans, although “The Love” he had had in other clubs, but Pochettino seemed to have lost a bit of his Mojo in the midst of the Chelsea company. So came the first of his big decisions of the past year.
“I always think that if something doesn't work, it is better to stop and look at different things and I think it was the best decision for both parties,” says Pochettino. “Yes, I think both parties are happy to split and then be open to see different options, and different options appear.”
They did that for various clubs and countries, but Pochettino's next big decision was to become the US's head coach in September.
“Maybe it's not easy for the people to understand why,” he says. “I think that I am the national coach or head coach of the US with the World Cup in 2026, I think that for a coaching staff like we, after working in clubs too many years, I think it was a great opportunity for us to challenge ourselves, to know how we can learn and learn things in different ways.
“I think it was a great opportunity and that is why we started to pay attention and when the offer arrived, I think it was easy to say yes.
“I think to organize the World Cup is a great experience. With the country we are talking about, the US, I think it's great. Too many good things are appearing at the moment and of course one of the reasons to take the job was because hosting the world cup is very close. It is not waiting for four years to play the World Cup, it was less than two years.
“I am so excited because I think the decision was good, I enjoy it a lot and I find it so exciting to discover different things every day to work on and different emotions. It is a very different job than in the past, a mystery because it is a completely different world, but I think we really enjoy that situation.”
'Timing was not good for the job in England'
I imagine Pochettino that he might have prepared another nation for that final as reports after the departure of Sir Gareth Southgate connecting him with the job in England can be believed. So was it a possibility?
He pauses for a moment and then says: “It's always about the timing.
'I was talking to my former president Daniel Levy [Tottenham chairman] And he says that football is always about timing and he always told me: “Mauricio, it's always timing.”
“It is true because he has experience in football and it is a privilege to be the head coach of the National Team of England, but the timings are sometimes not the same, the moment you can be available and this option disappears.”
It was of course another former Chelsea head coach, Thomas Tuchel, who got the job, but there is a feeling that it could have been very different.
Poch: I want traces to return one day and still talk to Levy
The mention of Daniel Levy and the relationship of the couple surprised me. Six years after leaving Tottenham, he still mentions the chairman of the club as a sounding board. That must be a rarity that I say to him, and Pochettino looks at me as if I am angry.
“Why?” He says, and I remind him: “Because he fired you.”
He answers: “You are talking about two different sides, professional and personal and I have always seen the appreciation between the two.
“He is always there and he will be there. It is something else to make professional decisions. It is true after almost six years with everything we lived together, it was difficult because of all the ups and downs and emotional things we lived.
“I have always seen that it is difficult in football that that does not affect all these situations in your relationship. We split very well for us. One was professional, another personal and now, just like the day after we left Tottenham, we always hold a very, very good relationship.”
Does he ever think there is another chapter of that story to go with Spurs? Could he ever see himself there?
He answers: “Look, when I left the club, I always remember an interview that I said I would like me to come back to Tottenham and that is of course,” Pochettino pauses and goes on, “I am in the US, I am not going to no, I am not going to see, but I would still see a day, I would still see a day, I would still see a day,
For the time being, Ange Postecoglou is the man who is in charge of Spurs and, after the last 16 draw against AZ Alkmaar, the quarterfinals of the Europa League are waiting.
Pochettino still follows his old party closely and has insisted on the need for time and trust.
He says: “We had something in Chelsea from the start when we have suffered too many problems and if you don't have your squadron, you can't manage things like this and it forces you to try to find different ways to approach the team and it will always influence your results.
“It is not an excuse because it happened to other teams, but sometimes that happens and you have to trust. I think they start to feel and recover the path to start winning and then start improving in the Premier League.”
He understands the frustration of the fans and talks passionately about what was made in the club – the training field and the stadium – but they are tangible football rewards that he hopes can also celebrate.
That is perhaps all for something in the future. At the moment the focus is on the World Cup. He thought he had left the “pressure and the investigation” when he left Chelsea, but only last week did FIFA president Gianni Infantino be back on the pressure during a visit to the White House to see Donald Trump.
Pochettino laughs and says, “I saw with Infantino and Infantino said,” Oh, the US can win the World Cup “. The president asked,” Can we win? ” Maybe he should ask me immediately because I don't believe that Infantino can say three, four names of our players. “
Pretend I'm Trump and I ask you that question. “If he asks me, I say yes,” Pochettino admits. “President, with your help, with the fans behind organizing the World Cup, everything is possible.”
After all, I said that the enthusiasm, the trust and the Swagger were back.
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