As a coach with experience at several top European clubs, Mauricio Pochettino demands success. Yet, Pochettino is not a coach who has won the lot as a club manager. However, the Argentine does have a lot of experience comparable to coaches like Pep Guardiola or Jose Mourinho who have won effectively every competition possible.
Regardless, Pochettino has a history of success. The only issue is that success may have been considered relative to where he was coaching. For example, Mauricio Pochettino failed to win any trophies at Tottenham Hotspur. Despite spending over five seasons in the dugout at the North London outfit, the best he could muster was second place in the 2016/17 Premier League season. He also coached the Tottenham side that reached the final of the UEFA Champions League 2018/19 season.
That was not the case in France. Coaching with PSG in Ligue 1, Mauricio Pochettino picked up each of the three trophies he has lifted as a manager. The first of those came in Pochettino’s third game with PSG in the French Super Cup. PSG defeated rivals Marseille in a battle of Le Classique, 2-1. That win, powered by an 85th-minute penalty from Neymar, allowed Pochettino to lift a trophy for the first time as a manager. He added a second trophy later that season as PSG won the 2020/21 Coupe de France. PSG defeated Monaco in the Coupe de France Final to make it two trophies in the first five months at the helm of the team. However, PSG failed to win Ligue 1 for the first time in four years.
Pochettino righted those wrongs in the following season for his third and final trophy. PSG secured the Ligue 1 trophy as its only success. That was also the end of Pochettino’s spell at PSG, as he and the club mutually agreed to part ways.
| Competition | Year won |
| Ligue 1 | 2021/22 |
| Trophee des Champions | 2020 |
| Coupe de France | 2020/21 |
American fans may not be overly impressed with three trophies, particularly as each of those came with PSG in France. However, some of his other close calls demonstrate how strong of a manager Pochettino is. Under Pochettino, Tottenham experienced its best performances in the English top-flight league since the 1960s. Pochettino was key to that success, as well as the development of Harry Kane and Son Heung-min. The four-time manager of the month with Spurs was one of the best during that stint.
In his lone season with Chelsea, he took an inconsistent side and delivered them a runner-up finish in the English League Cup. Virgil van Dijk’s extra-time winner prevented Pochettino from winning a fourth title. However, Pochettino showed that he had Chelsea on the right path before the club relieved him of his duties.
Pochettino will hopefully be able to add trophies to his cabinet with the USMNT whether that be the Gold Cup or Nations League. Fans may want him to deliver the World Cup, but that may be wishful thinking given the challenges he faces in the top United States job.
| Competition | Year(s) won |
| Argentine Primera Division | 1990/91, 1992 |
| Copa del Rey | 1999/00, 2005/06 |
| UEFA Intertoto Cup | 2001 |
PHOTOS: IMAGO
