It's a meeting of two old enemies in Guadalajara, two years before they co-host a World Cup, but this international friendly wouldn't mean much without big news on the American side: the U.S. Men's National Team has a new coach with serious pedigree at the top of the European game. Mauricio Pochettino took Tottenham to a Champions League final, he's coached Chelsea and PSG, and now he'll try to lead this young USMNT squad to the promised land—or at least a World Cup quarterfinal.
One man who knows a bit about all that is Kasey Keller, who represented the United States as a goalkeeper at four different World Cups. He was also among the first Americans to forge a serious career in Europe's top leagues, helping to pave the way for Christian Pulisic and Weston McKennie today. Now he's an analyst at ESPN, and he took some time to offer his thoughts on Pochettino's appointment and the financial implications, including for women's coach Emma Hayes; the state of this U.S. squad and just how many more breakout players they'll need to compete in two years time; his own time with the national team and how the game has shifted Stateside over the last couple of decades; and how he nearly had his whole kit stripped off him during a pitch invasion at The Den, the cauldron where he kept goal for Millwall when he first arrived in Europe.
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