Dest excited about prospect of Pochettino as USMNT coach

American defender Sergiño Dest said he is excited about the potential arrival of Mauricio Pochettino as coach of the men’s national team.

Dest, who suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament last May and is likely to be out until 2025, said he believes the Argentine coach’s arrival could be a big boost for the team.

“Yes, it is (exciting),” he told ESPN during his attendance at this weekend’s Formula 1 Dutch Grand Prix. “Of course he has been a coach for the big cubs and he is a well-known coach. That will be a great experience to train under him.

Pochettino has built a reputation for developing players, particularly during his time at Tottenham from 2014-2019

“That’s exciting. We’ll see and hopefully it can help us all… to get a really great result at the 2026 World Cup, you know? Because we’re the home country,” Dest added.

“We have to take it step by step, because he is not there yet.”

Dest said he hopes the news will be official soon. The U.S. has two friendlies during the September international transfer window against Canada and Panama on Sept. 7 and 10, respectively. A source told ESPN that former USMNT assistant Mikey Varas will be in charge of the U.S. for those two games.

ESPN reported last week that Pochettino has agreed to succeed Gregg Berhalter as USMNT coach, with final details still to be finalized. He is expected to take charge of the team for the first time against Mexico in a friendly match at the Estadio Akron in Guadalajara on October 15.

“Yes, everyone is waiting (to hear if Pochettino is official),” Dest said.

“I wasn’t with the team in the last camp because I’m injured, obviously, so I don’t have anything to do there, but I’ll probably go in the near future, in October or November. I’ll try to be with the team and I’ll ask them to stay there with the chemistry and everything, to support them.”

Dest said the torn ACL is “100 percent” the biggest injury he has ever come back from in his career. Dest suffered the injury during training with PSV Eindhoven on April 20.

The club initially described it as a serious knee injury, but the 23-year-old later confirmed he would be out for at least nine months, telling ESPN he hopes to be back at the club in January 2025.

“I have it in my mind at the end of January, but I have to take it step by step,” he said. “So if for some reason it gets worse or whatever, I have to wait. I have to make sure my knee is perfect and then I can play. So if I need a little bit longer, I will take it, because this is a very big injury.”

Dest underwent surgery in May.

“The rehabilitation is going very well. I’m on schedule, I’m on time, so that’s okay,” he said. “Of course it’s a tough moment mentally, but I’ve accepted it.

“I don’t think too much about football at the moment because sometimes you get emotional — you want to play, you want to go faster, but you can’t. So I stay calm and make sure I take everything step by step, in the right direction at the right time.

However, Dest said the whole experience can make him stronger.

“I didn’t expect it, you know, even at the time that it happened,” he said. “To me, it felt like pain, but I thought, oh okay, a couple of days and it’ll be over. Then we did the MRI, we did the scan and they said nine months. So it was hard to hear that. At first, I couldn’t even believe it.

“It makes me a more experienced man and more mature.”