Mauricio Pochettino’s US return is risky, expensive and probably unnecessary

A great deal for US Soccer, who are getting the same results we’ve gotten under every manager, but for a much higher price tag

There is also something of an opportunity cost to keeping Pochettino on. Tax filings show that he made more than $5m over his first seven months in the job, a sum that was reportedly padded with further payment from billionaire US Soccer supporter Ken Griffin and other sources. Griffin is once again a primary funder of Pochettino’s new deal, which keeps him among the most highly paid managers in international soccer. And while the federation got a return on that investment over the past summer, it’s worth wondering whether it makes sense to pay out that kind of money to go and play early qualifiers against Nicaragua, or to face Jamaica and Panama again and again.