As Mauricio Pochettino prepares to lead the United States into a World Cup on home soil, the former Tottenham boss may well want to reflect on the unique career path that has led him to this point.
It’s one that began in a small town in Argentina more than 40 years ago in the middle of the night, thanks to one of the rival coaches at this summer’s World Cup.
At the centre of this story is the famously obsessive and eccentric Marcelo Bielsa, a man whose influence looms large over Pochettino’s career as both a player and a manager.
Pochettino on being discovered by Bielsa
The story of Pochettino’s midnight discovery by Bielsa has gone down in football folklore, but are the tales of the future Leeds United boss seeking out the 13-year-old Pochettino in the middle of the night true or a mere apocryphal story?
“Bielsa was accompanying Jorge Griffa, director of the Newell’s Old Boys academy,” Pochettino explains to FourFourTwo. “They created a scouting network across Argentina, which no club had done before.
“People who worked for them near Murphy told them about a player with the name Pochettino. At midnight, in the middle of winter, after watching hundreds of players, Marcelo said, “Let’s go back to Rosario.” Griffa replied, “First, we have to stop in Murphy.”
“Back then, there was no Google Maps. They arrived at 1am, the streets were empty except for stray dogs. They went to a petrol station, were told where I lived and knocked on the door.
“My parents were frightened, but my father knew Griffa, and they said they wanted me to go for a trial, then asked to see me. My mother proudly pulled back the blankets, and Bielsa said, ‘What footballer’s legs.’”
Pochettino would then rise through the ranks under Bielsa at Newell’s Old Boys, graduating to the first team, where he would make more than 150 appearances before moving to Europe with Espanyol.
“On my first day training in Rosario, Bielsa told me I’d play with a team two years older than me,” the former centre-back says of working under the Argentine. “After three minutes, he took me off. I was asking myself what I’d done wrong. He was sitting on a ball, and told me he wanted me to play in a Latin American tournament in Mar del Plata, then sign for the club. He said, “I have nothing more to say, go and take a shower – they’ll give you a ticket back to your town afterwards.” He watched me for three minutes and that was enough.
“Bielsa means a great deal to me – I’m emotionally shaped by everything he did for me. More than a teacher, he was someone who pushed you to discover new things.”
Pochettino hung up his boots in 2006 after a playing career which saw him play in four countries, winning domestic and European titles and earn 20 caps for his country. He began his managerial career with Espanyol in 2009 and admits that this move into coaching was inspired by his former boss.
“He planted the seed in our minds,” he says. “Everyone follows their own path, but it’s no coincidence so many of us with Bielsa at Newell’s discovered our vocation on the touchline.”
