Pochettino’s impromptu video session came midway through the first half of Sunday’s friendly at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte. With the score 1-0, the head coach crouched by the bench and gestured toward a laptop that an assistant held unsteadily, while a group of players gathered behind him, watching. The moment, broadcast live on TNT, immediately drew comparisons to NBA timeouts and generated a wave of social media posts guessing what Pochettino was pointing at.
“It was a new one for sure,” US defender Mark McKenzie said after the match, describing the scene.
The laptop, Pochettino explained later, was showing a series of plays in which he felt the United States could improve. The head coach said the ability to show players their own actions in real time helped them adjust during the game.
“The players need to feel, but they also need to see,” Pochettino said. “I think it’s very helpful for the player to see actions. When they see the image, I think it’s really important.”
Pochettino claimed he first began the practice in 2009 when he started as a manager with La Liga side Espanyol, calling himself the first coach to use on-the-spot video analysis with players during breaks.
The three-minute water breaks that allowed the session are a new feature at this summer’s World Cup in the United States. FIFA has mandated a cooling break midway through each half of every match, regardless of the temperature on game day, citing player safety in what is expected to be a high-heat tournament. The breaks were observed during the USMNT’s March friendlies — played indoors at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta — and again on Sunday in Charlotte, where temperatures were in the mid-70s Fahrenheit.
Soccer purists have criticized the rule, and Pochettino, despite taking advantage of it, described himself as part of that camp.
“I’ll use the water break to try and help my players,” he said. “But still, I don’t like [them]. Of course if it’s too hot I think the water break is important. Because the health of the player is first. But if it’s not too hot … I think it’s not necessary. I think the players are prepared and are ready to compete during 45 minutes.”
Portugal manager Roberto Martinez used the breaks in March friendlies for tactical instruction, calling them “a tactical stop.” The forced pauses also offer broadcasters additional advertising time, a fact that has drawn its own criticism.
McKenzie said the timeout allowed the US team to “fine-tune some things, make some adjustments, maybe figure out in our press or in our defensive transitions, wherever it may be, where we can improve.” He said the break helped the players “take a breath, reset yourselves as a collective.”
Pochettino said the US team is still waiting for clarification about what will be permitted on the field during the World Cup water breaks, as players are not allowed to leave the field during those stops — a difference from Sunday’s friendly, where the team gathered at the bench. A laptop on the sideline during a World Cup match, he suggested, may not be possible under the final rule.
“It’s like plenty of rules today. Rules that for sure I don’t like,” Pochettino said. “They say they are going to help with the spectators. But we are going in a direction where we are going to change. The football that we know is not going to exist, and it will become another sport.”