USA coach Mauricio Pochettino says it would be ‘big mistake’ to talk politics ahead of Concacaf Nations League​on March 19, 2025 at 12:29 am

While the Concacaf Nations League is a tournament that will showcase the best that the confederation has to offer, this year’s edition comes during a tenuous political climate between participants Mexico, Canada, Panama, and the United States. In the lead-up to the tournament, Canadian head coach and American Jesse Marsch spoke out against President Donald Trump’s comments about making Canada the 51st state during a Nations League press conference in February. Mexico coach Javier Aguirre even commented on Trump signing an executive order to rename the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America, saying, “For me, it’s the Gulf of Mexico.”

Preparing to face Panama on Thursday, March 20 at SoFi Stadium on Paramount+ at 7 p.m. ET, United States men’s national team head coach Mauricio Pochettino. who was not at the press conference in February, wanted to make no mistake where the focus was. 

“I was talking now because I found Jesse Marsch on the pitch and we were talking in a very good way. We are so friendly because we know each other from Europe. I think we cannot mix political things with the sport in my career. It’s not because I don’t want to talk,” Pochettino said. 

“We have qualified people who can talk about politics but I am not an expert on politics. I have of course my ideas as a 53-year-old but it’s not the point for me to mix.

“Soccer is soccer or soccer, football for me, but we want to destroy Panama, we want to destroy the next one and we want to win but destroy. When I say we destroy, it’s in a [sporting] way. We want to beat them and win the game, and I think that motivation can’t be from different diplomatic problems that we cannot be involved in, players cannot be involved in. We need to play for us, we need to feel proud to defend our flag. We need to play for our country always on the pitch trying to be better than the opponent. I think it’s a big mistake if we talk about politics because people are not waiting for us to talk in this way.”

Pochettino continued to state that soccer is a sport that should be enjoyed because to him it is the best sport in the world and something fun for the fans to enjoy. Tensions are high between the United States and Canada on a sporting level as showed during the 4 Nations Hockey tournament where Canadian fans booed the U.S. national anthem and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also posted a celebratory message on X when Canada won that tournament.

“You can’t take our country — and you can’t take our game,” Trudeau said.

“I’m not going to get too political right now. I’ve made my views be known,” Marsch said. “You can see the climate for sports in North America has been elevated for national teams. I’m really hopeful that this tournament can be the best reflection of our societies & that we don’t have to waste time booing national anthems and getting caught up in politics.”