TAMPA, Fla. – Mauricio Pochettino wanted to make a point on Monday: Marcelo Bielsa is not his friend. The reverence that the U.S. national team head coach has for his mentor, and next foe, cannot be described in relationship terms.
“First of all, my relationship with (Bielsa), he is not like my friend,” Pochettino said on Monday with a smirk. “He is a person that was really important when I was young, when I started to play football when I was 13 years old, 14 years old at Newell’s (Old Boys). My admiration and my respect for him are massive.”
“I cannot consider him like a friend,” he added. Instead, Pochettino views Bielsa as one of his football heroes — someone whom he once referred to as his “football father.”
Bielsa has always had a genius-like quality. Even as a young coach, which is when Pochettino first crossed paths with him, Bielsa was defined by his temperament and his willingness to question authority in the name of better football.
Today, Bielsa is an institution. With his identifiable tactics, whether it be man-marking all over the field or his insatiable appetite for a finely tuned high press, Bielsa has become linked with game-changing methodologies that will stand the test of time. On Tuesday night, Pochettino will test his coaching wits against the man who shaped him first as a player and then again as a manager.
Pochettino was an 18-year-old, first-year professional when Bielsa took over Newell’s Old Boys in 1990. As a tough-tackling central defender, Pochettino matured under Bielsa’s watchful eye, winning two league titles playing for Newell’s before a move to Spain with Espanyol in 1994 (Bielsa briefly coached there in 1998). All 20 of Pochettino’s senior caps for Argentina came under Bielsa.
A ponytailed Mauricio Pochettino (second from left) takes instruction from Marcelo Bielsa (right) as part of Argentina’s preparations during the 2002 World Cup (Daniel Garcia / AFP / Getty Images)
When he looks over at Uruguay’s bench, Pochettino will see his former head coach in his customary position on the touchline: seated on top of a cooler, feverishly analyzing the action from a close distance. Any pleasantries between the two will be initiated by Bielsa. Whether that happens in private after the match, or for the cameras to see, will not be up to Pochettino.
“(Bielsa) is this type of person that you wait until to talk to,” Pochettino said. “You wait for him to say hello, and then you say hello.”
The reverence is obvious, but Tuesday will not be the first time that Pochettino and Bielsa have faced each other. Pochettino’s coaching career began with a return to Espanyol in 2009 when the Catalan club was close to the bottom of the table in La Liga. Espanyol had employed Bielsa for 12 matches in 1998. Bielsa returned to Spain to coach Athletic Bilbao with aggressive tactics that shaped the proud Basque club from 2011-2013.
It was during that time that Bielsa’s Bilbao and Pochettino’s Espanyol played three matches against each other. Two of those games were thrilling 3-3 draws. When Espanyol defeated Bilbao 2-1 during the 2011-12 season, the pupil-versus-teacher cliché dominated headlines in Spain and Argentina.
Tuesday night’s friendly will be the fourth matchup between the two. Both managers have come a long way. Bielsa is in his 14th head coaching job, and his appointment by the Uruguayan Football Association in 2023 was controversial. Bielsa is highly respected in South America, but foreign head coaches, especially Argentines, don’t receive warm welcomes in Montevideo.
Bielsa is looking to restore Uruguay’s place among the elite teams in international football after a disappointing 2022 World Cup in Qatar. Uruguayan Diego Alonso managed an aging side to a shock elimination in the group stage. Alonso’s inexperience at that level was a source of frustration after Uruguay failed to advance from Group H, which included Portugal, South Korea, and Ghana.
Bielsa represented the antithesis of the brief Alonso era, but his tenure in Uruguay has not gone as smoothly as expected. Uruguay struggled at times during CONMEBOL World Cup qualifying, particularly in front of goal. Uruguay finished third during the 2024 Copa América, which was viewed as another disappointing result.
Pochettino, meanwhile, has weathered an early storm of poor results at the U.S.. With 205 days to go before the 2026 World Cup, Pochettino has found the team’s pulse. The U.S. has not lost in four matches. A positive showing against Paraguay Saturday night — capped by a scrappy and spirited brawl in stoppage time — bodes well for their date against a Uruguayan team coming off a 0-0 draw with Mexico.
The USMNT is unbeaten in four straight matches against World Cup-bound sides under Mauricio Pochettino. (Kyle Ross / Imagn Images)
Pochettino and Bielsa, student and mentor, will face each other for the fourth time as head coaches in Tampa. There will be no points up for grabs. One could argue that the stakes are much lower than in previous meetings between the two. And still, how both managers’ teams perform will provide plenty of talking points from now until the next FIFA window in March.
The U.S. is growing gradually under Pochettino, a head coach who, in 2024, after his first few games in charge, had one simple message.
“If one of my players is kicked, we’re going to defend him,” Pochettino said at the time. “We have to be cunning enough to know when to kick the ball long or to stand in front of the ball. These are things that may seem like small details, but they have everything to do with playing this game. That’s the stamp that we want.”
On Monday, Pochettino seemed pleased but not completely satisfied with the character and belief of this current U.S. national team. The 2-1 win over Paraguay has increased the positive vibes in the U.S. camp. Uruguay, however, presents a different challenge. Its culture, which hinges on a relentless fighting spirit, is complemented by technical football and elite gamesmanship. And now, it’s backed by Bielsa.
“We are going to suffer,” Pochettino said of what’s arguably the best opponent he’ll have faced since becoming U.S. manager. He may be right, but for Pochettino, there will be a silver lining regardless of the outcome at Raymond James Stadium.
“(Bielsa) was key in my career as a player and key in (teaching me) to love the game,” Pochettino said. “He inspired me to keep pushing, to keep trying to be a coach. So yes, Tuesday is something that I will enjoy, to be very close to Marcelo.”
