Pochettino’s AC Milan Bombshell and USMNT’s Senegal Test: Big Weekend Preview 05/28/26

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2:18News has just broken. The Mauricio Pochettino has met with representatives at AC Milan to discuss taking over there after the World Cup. The Athletic have just broken news. Our friend James Horncastle, it is slightly insane to break right now. 15 days before the most critical and consequential World Cup campaign for the US men in our history kicks off. It's an incredible time ahead of Sunday's friendly against Senegal to welcome our good friend, former US men's national team striker to face of ESPN and our own VAMOS platform, Mr. Hercules Gomez. Herc, quick question. What the F? Raj, how are you doing?

2:59I awoke with this news and I'm thinking to myself, really? Now? Couldn't wait? Had to go in person? I don't even know where we start with this, Raj. Who has the time, man? This is true. Who has the time? I mean, Raj, you and I have always known that for Mauricio Pochettino, as discussed, he discussed with the national team. He discussed with the federation. It's publicly disclosed. His contract is through the summer. It's just this summer. And many felt it was only going to be this cycle. Despite what Mauricio Pochettino threw out there in the March qualifiers about maybe extending. And it's not the first time he's thrown his hat in the ring.

3:39but to see it this close to a world cup to see it right now with the instability that the national team has morale with the fan base has never been at an all-time low and this team didn't qualify for a world cup in 2018 want to give huge thanks to bank of america official bank of u.s soccer and the fifa world cup 2026 for supporting the men in blazes media network discover what's possible in sports and in life. What would you like the power to do? There's what was kind of floated and known, but the optics, man. And when you say, you know, it's widely discussed that he would leave, US soccer, when Mauricio Pochettino signed a heart sword, they were at pains to say, Mauricio wasn't just coming for this cycle, but he was interested in the whole process of building football here over multiple cycles.

4:28It was proud of Poch moving to Atlanta. I've got to say though, So putting all of that aside, how does this impact the players, the camp? This is Poch's moment. Trust the process has been his message. And the managers out there, you know, interviewing for his next thing. Like, are you all in? I want it all. I want you to give it. Oh, hang on a minute. I've just got to go and negotiate. This has happened in other nations. This is not a new one. 2018, Spain sacked their manager, Huland Lopetegui. before, I think it was two days ahead of the team's World Cup opening game? Because news came out he had negotiated to take the Real Madrid job after that World Cup.

5:09Their statement at the time, we wish him the best. He's done an excellent job in getting us to the tournament. But this is basic. This is the team of all Spaniards. The national team is the most important we have. And the World Cup is the biggest of all. That's a precedent. This is a madness. Yeah. Julian Lopetegui started speaking with Real Madrid, The Federation found out, and Fernando Hierro ended up coaching the team in Russia, and it was a disaster for Spain, a disaster for the Spanish Federation. They had somebody at the Federation who was in charge. They had somebody who was the number one.

5:44Who's the number one right now? Who's going to make the decision? Matt Crocker just packed up his bags and took a bag and left. He's in Saudi Arabia. So who's going to make a decision? Who's going to tell Marisa Pocetino, hey, man, you're well within your right, but this is terrible optics right now. And as far as the players, listen, I feel for them. I feel for them. I feel for them. This is their moment. He's trust the process. He's like, we don't need a leadership group. This is on me. I am the leader. By the way, just dusting off on my almost perfect Italian. Raj, you get to speak to these guys a lot more than I do.

6:18You get to see them face to face a lot more. It's really strange that in my lifetime of being in or around the national team or covering the national team, or even being a fan of the national team, I've never felt so disconnected as a fan. I've never felt like what I'm watching is unlikable. And a lot of this maybe they're doing and some of it not they're doing, but this program has been very unlikable for quite some time. And it's unfair to these guys. Now these guys get put in a position where they don't really know what's going on. Pochettino throws the word culture around a lot. What kind of a culture is this?

6:52We were told you were getting a serial winner. Is this a winning mentality that you're already looking for the next? So as a player, these guys got to use this moment, galvanize it, come together on their own and hope they can do something to inspire a nation that's desperately seeking something here. Yeah, I feel for the players, man. I really do. By the way, I feel for Pulisic, AC Milan. My God, poor Yunus Moussa, who's still a AC Milan player. But Yunus Moussa is still a Milan player. And obviously there's something going on. We had Younes on Vamos, and he was more than professional. You know, he wouldn't touch on why he didn't think he was there, but he desperately wanted to be there.

7:31Now the guy who ostracized him from the U.S. men's national team after playing a World Cup may go to your club. Where does that leave you? I mean, this is not great, Bob. I've got to be quite candid. I love Pochettino. I loved what he did at Tottenham, taking a young core, making them believe, making them dream. It was borderline alchemy. I feel for the players. I really do. We have had 2018, we got this World Cup given to us. We have had eight years to prepare for this moment. The excitement around this World Cup is building around the US team, not so much. I mean, this is the moment that we had to plan for.

8:07You're right, Matt Crocker gone. Pochettino, you know, the news breaking, it's a terrible, terrible optic. It feels like he could have lifted us up, Pochettino. He could have lifted us up like Rick Pitino, Iona, you know, lifted up to his level. It's feeling more and more like Bill Belichick at North Carolina. It's like dating a partner. It is. I just got this text from someone in football. When you date a partner who's way out of your weight class, and even though the relationship is bad for you, you stay in it, and they're just able to do whatever they want, and you can't do anything about it.

8:39That's what it's feeling like at this moment. You know, Raj, I'm so glad you brought up that there's been eight years prepared for this moment. And these players, and I say this respectfully, were gifted caps, were gifted national team appearances, and the path was cleared. Out the Michael Bradleys, out the Josie Altidors, out the Tim Howards, out players that could have potentially been there to have in some way guide these players as veteran players. It just feels like time lost. You have 13 months from Dave Sarekin as a caretaker while Greg Berhalter is with the Columbus crew finishing his season.

9:15And then you go to Qatar and you have everything that transpired in Qatar that is worth noting, very important to the history of this national team. And you do an extensive search to come back to Greg Berhalter, the fiasco at Copa America, and then you let him go and do another search and you pay$6 million plus for Marisa Pochettino. And we are days away from World Cup and we don't know the style. We don't know the DNA. We don't know the lineup. It just feels like so much time lost here. And you've had eight years to prepare for this pivotal moment. And leadership, leadership, who you thought would be here to guide you through this moment is no longer here.

9:54So you've got a coach with one foot out the door. You've got players who don't know where they stand. And you've got a nation hoping they could pull it together within days to do something respectable in front of the world.

10:08That's all we've got now is that hope. It really is. I feel for the players. I feel for Tyler Adams. I feel for Soul King, Chris Richards. I feel for Brendan Aronson. We just had him on. You know, and more. these are remarkable human beings who've given their all for this moment. They've just been announced in the 26th. Let's talk about this challenge ahead because this story is going to unspool. The unveiling undermined in itself by the leak of the unveiling and the impromptu Gunner concert that broke out in front of poor Joe Skelly's surprised eyes. I want to talk about this game against a very good Senegal team in a moment.

10:44It is a strange time. You've just known that we are 14 days from the World Cup kickoff, 15 days away from the United States first game. And irrespective of the news breaking today about Pochettino, we know the group of players in this squad are undoubtedly the most accomplished set of individuals the US have ever had. The first game is not yet sold out. That reflects that, you know, the feeling, the lackluster feeling around the team, the noise around the team feels lower than it's ever been. This game and the next one against Germany. Yes, they're friendlies, but they're also crucial hurt because they've got to light the wick on a sense of hope and belief around this team now.

11:20Yeah, you mentioned it. It seems like the morale within the fan base is low right now. The buzz is low. This roster reveal, I understand that the roster was leaked and that's going to be a big part of it. There are no surprises here, Raj. But did you see the crowds in New York? And I understand it's New York and parking is going to be crazy. I understand there's a bunch of different things going on. But any other country around the world, the roster gets released and the players are there. It would be mayhem. Yeah. Argentina, Mexico, Brazil, England. It would be insanity. And I understand the roster was leaked.

11:54But this shouldn't be the way fans are feeling right before a pivotal moment. And this game, Raj, this game, it's an important game. It's an important game against a team that are African champions. Not on paper, but in real life, we're African champions. It's a very good test. It's a World Cup potential opponent. And you have to assume that going into this game, we have to see what we will see against Paraguay. Let's get into this game. This is business time, as you say. And there's still so many questions to be revealed, like who is our starting goalkeeper? Who's our starting striker? We're not doing that false nine thing again that we did in defeat against Portugal.

12:33Please God, are we playing three at the back? Please have us play three at the back. Even before this news, this is Mauricio Pochettino's time to step up to drop trust the process messaging that honestly is giving every single 76ers USMNT fan. I know absolute PTSD and show that it is his thinking, which is more distant from the players than his predecessors has been. When you speak to the players, that's the one thing they don't really know what's going. He keeps it that way. He is a mystery, an enigma to a lot of the players. He's been hard for them to follow. He's also dismissed journalist questions.

13:06He's kept the American media very much at arm's length in a very dismissive way and talked openly about the players. As I said, don't need a leadership group. He is the leader. Now is the time for him to step up, to show us his cards. We've got two games left before the World Cup. Biggest question, Herc, is is this the time that Pochettino unveils his plans and are the players fully connected to it? Well, they better be, Raj, because the alternative is disastrous for this program. You can ill afford to be embarrassed in your own home country like you were last summer. at Copa America. That was supposed to be your driver one for the World Cup and you got grouped.

13:41The first host nation, the history of that illustrious tournament to get grouped. If something like this happens on home soil, it's gonna set US soccer back decades. I repeat, if something disastrous happens on home soil, it'll set US soccer back decades. Now, here's the good news. For as much drama and negativity and doubt that this program has had over the years, it can all be erased Marisa Pochettino he can shut every single person up those pundits that he likes talking down upon he can easily, easily backhand them in the mouth I told you so with a good performance in this World Cup and sometimes it's that easy Morocco was embarrassed by the US Men's National Team in Cincinnati and they fired their coach and it was a team that was in disarray and came together and pulled off one of the greatest runs that I have ever seen in World Cup history and made it to a semi-final This team individually has enough talent to grind out results.

14:40I don't see why they couldn't pull something off, but that's taken this team at their ceiling. That's taken Mauricio Pochettino at his best. Something that we've not seen from the coach or this team in recent years. Senegal currently ranked top 15, undefeated in qualifying. As you say, the AFCON intrigue. They believe they are a team of destiny when you listen to them. starring still Sadio Mane. Incredible memories of more joyful days for Liverpool fans when I say those two words. Everton's Ilian Dye, Pape Matassar of Tottenham amongst their stars. They're built on a foundation of real speed, physical strength they can strike with an incredible efficiency in transition.

15:19I mean, we are still building our own tactical blueprint. It's unclear how we're going to play. We have a sense. We have a hope. We have a dream. You know, I was talking to a former US goalkeeper yesterday and asked him who should start. He said, we're in a pick. your poison situation. And then he prays we don't make a mistake in these friendlies, which is going to make that narrative an awful piece of flapping skin. We don't need the lack of midfield cover. It's going to make who Poch starts in that midfield fascinating. What is Gio Reyna's role in all of this? Herc, what's the most important question you're looking to see answered during Sunday's Senegal matchup?

15:51Who are you? Show us who you are. Because we've been waiting so long under Marisa Pochettino to see who this team really is. You mentioned the 10 defenders. and you said hopefully they played three center backs. Well, why do you have 10 defenders if the idea isn't to play with three center backs? What's the midfield gonna look like? We have an idea, but you've never used Weston McKinney there. Is it really gonna be Tyler Adams, Weston McKinney? And if so, who's up top? And what are they gonna look like up top? Christian Pulisic hasn't really looked like Christian Pulisic in 2026. Can he be the Christian Pulisic you need him to be to be successful?

16:25Because if the US Men's National League is going to be successful, it has to be writing Christian Pulisic's coattails.

16:58to compete against elite teams. And what do we have to do to get over it? Because we have to get over it. I can't explain it because, and I say this respectfully, lesser U.S. men's national teams on paper have done more. Listen, 2002, ridiculous run. The margins are so slim. People don't remember. People seem to forget that team shocked Portugal, tied a host country, and we're getting spanked by Poland. It was South Korea that beat Portugal, that backdoored the U.S. men's national team into the second round where they faced a CONCACAF opponent. The margins are so slim. You can change people's judgments of you, but you need to do it on the field.

17:372010, we won the group. We won the group, and we won the group last second with the Landon Donovan goal. You win the group. You go from being out of the World Cup to winning the group. The margins are so thin. So it's up to you on the field to change these things. Same thing with getting out of the group of death for Juergen Klinsmann in 2014. What I'm getting at here is these players, as difficult as they may seem, everything can change with one action, one moment. And they have an opportunity here. What you've done in the past no longer is relevant. And all will be forgiven. For as disastrous as this generation has been on the international scene, Raj, if they can pull something off this World Cup, nobody's going to remember that.

18:19Nobody will talk about that. 1994, everybody loves talking about Colombia. they were the third best team in their group and advanced on to the next round of face Brazil nobody remembers anything until you do something so they've got an unbelievable chance I don't know why they can't perform against top European teams I do not know it could be as easy as talent level but lesser teams have done more this is their opportunity to do more let's get a score prediction from you what kind of game will it be what will the final score be oh I think it's gonna be a very physical game. This is the golden generation for Senegal.

18:55They took England to the brink last World Cup. They are African champions despite what many think Morocco is on paper. This is a good team led by Sadio Mane who is better than any American we've ever produced. They've been undefeated this year. This is a very good team. So prediction here I think it would be a very physical battle. One that I think the US men's national team needs to prove that they could grind out and I'm going for a 1-1 scoreline. I want to give huge thanks to Bank of America, official Bank of US Soccer and the FIFA World Cup 2026 for supporting the Men in Blazers media network.

19:28Discover what's possible in sports and in life. What would you like the power to do? I think we're going to start well. I think what's going to be interesting to watch is if we do not screw in the first 20 minutes, how do we handle it? How do we keep the focus? How do we stop the frustration kicking in? Especially for Christian Pulisic, those 19 agonizing club games without a goal. I think he's going to get one on Sunday. I really, really do. I feel it. I see it in my bones. That is a goal that I believe, please God, trying to manifest positives that will take a narrative, flip it, make him feel, you know, that goal that will go across TikTok, across, you know, whatever sports center is now and make people, oh, that guy, he's our savior.

20:06He can be if he feels good and is loved and is about to star. I believe we're going to draw 2-2. The only thing I think I know for sure is I will be live with Clint Dempsey, the man who's better than Eden Hazard for a live edition of The Juice after the final whistle on Sunday. GFO, please come join us right here and debrief on the wonder eyes of Justine Herc. You're a beautiful human being. Thank you, man. Thank you, Raj. Appreciate it. Got to say, we do not come here for the darkness. When it is the US Men's Nationals team, we want the light. We want the joy. We want the sense of hope. I'll just finish this by saying to better days ahead.

20:42Big, big love. Courage. Thank you.