USMNT
When Javier Aguirre replaced Pochettino on the bench
One of the first games that Mauricio Pochettino will face as USMNT coach will be against Mexico, a team coached by Javier Aguirre, an old acquaintance of the Argentine.
Mauricio Pochettino could not have wished for a better to his reign at the helm of the United States men’s national team. The USMNT beat Panama 2-0 in a friendly in Austin at the weekend, to get the Argentine off on the right foot.
While it was a positive start, let’s not forget that Panama are 37th in the world ranking and much bigger battles, and tougher rivals, lie ahead (the USMNT are 18th after slipping down a couple of places). The first real test that Pochettino’s team will face will be against neighbors Mexico. And despite the recent dominance that the American team has had over the Tri, playing as visitors in Guadalajara adds a greater degree of complexity for Team USA.
Aguirre and Pochettino: familiar foes
In addition, parallel to the match and long-term sporting rivalry that exists between the USMNT and Mexico, there will be the story that links Mauricio Pochettino with Javier Aguirre. Both were appointed to their respective national teams as an emergency measure following the previous failure of the projects led by Jaime Lozano (Mexico) and Gregg Berhalter (USMNT).
Espanyol: the club that links Mauricio Pochettino and Javier Aguirre
As part of this new rivalry between the United States and Mexico, Pochettino and Aguirre will face each other once again from the bench in Tuesday’s friendly at Akron stadium. It won’t be the first time that they have faced each other from the dugout, although there are not many many precedents considering both were heavily involved in Spanish football.
As coaches, they have faced each other on three occasions, all of them when Poch was in charge at Espanyol and El Vasco at Zaragoza. The first of those encounters was in Week 18 of the 2010/11 LaLiga season - a 4-0 home win for Pochettino’s team. But Aguirre got his revenge in the return fixture - a 1-0 win at La Romareda in the penultimate game of the season.
The Mexican also won the next game - Luis García’s late winner edged it for the Maños four games into the 2011/12 campaign. Just a few months later Aguirre was sacked after his team went nine games without a win - he had been in the job for little over a year.
Curiously, less than 12 months after Aguirre and Zaragoza parted ways, Pochettino left Espanyol by mutual consent with the team languishing in 20th place in the table. Who did the Pericos bring in? Aguirre, who managed to guide the team to safety while his old club were relegated.