Will Mauricio Pochettino build on Bora’s legacy of reaching Latino fans?
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Celso Thomas Castilho, Contributor
- September 10, 2024
New USMNT coach Mauricio Pochettino can build bridge to Latinos
As a Latino soccer fan, the historical significance of the USMNT hiring a coach from Latin America is not lost on me. I am excited, if also resentful that it’s taken this long. It’s frustrating to see time and again who and what the soccer powers in this country consider as the standard for U.S. soccer. Even now, had the U.S. Soccer Federation locked in its first choice, we’d be talking about the Jürgen Klopp era.
That he would have been the fifth German-born coach to lead the national team in the last 50 years would have passed unnoticed, as coincidental, if anything, and not reflective of any cultural preferences or biases.
Regardless, Mauricio Pochettino, of Argentina, is now the head coach. How will his hire resonate with Latino fans in the U.S.? Will he make Latin American soccer, as in our styles and ways of knowing the game, more relevant to how the U.S. plays? Will he place greater value on U.S. players developing on teams such as Flamengo or Boca Juniors rather than on middling teams in Spain and England? And, ultimately, will he cultivate ties to the broader Latinx soccer community, from fans to the sporting media?
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Equally pertinent, and which should be asked of all leaders atop of U.S. soccer, will Pochettino help confront the structural barriers limiting the opportunities for U.S. Latinx coaches and executives? Professors Brenda Elsey of Hofstra University and Jermaine Scott of Florida Atlantic University documented the underrepresentation of Black, Latinx, and women leaders across the MLS, NWSL, and US Soccer, in a FARE report released in 2020.
They pointed out, for example, that only two Latinos (men) sat among the 15-person board of the United States Soccer Federation.
Mauricio Pochettino fills Latino void
Mauricio Pochettino is in a unique position to articulate a new paradigm to analyze and guide U.S. Soccer. Doing so would be significant not only for seeking better results, but also for reinvigorating links between Latine fans and the USMNT.
Even as a “first,” there are nonetheless precedents for Mauricio Pochettino to build on of USMNT coaches making meaningful connections to Latino fans. I’m old enough to remember one such example from the early 1990s, of a coach who saw us; of a coach who brought international credibility to the role, and launched this modern era of the USMNT. I am referring to Bora. Bora Milutinovic, the Serbian who made himself a part of the Latino soccer world far beyond what any coach had done so previously. I’d venture to say that no coach has come close since.
Bora took over the USMNT in March 1991, charged with preparing the team for the 1994 Men’s World Cup, held in the U.S. Along the way, the national team scored historic victories over Uruguay, Portugal, and England, among others. The USMNT’s run into the second round ’94 put an exclamation point to this era, securing Bora’s place in the history books. Yet, as a then teenage Latino in Los Angeles with an up-close view of the USMNT, I loved Bora because he was unapologetic in that our soccer mattered, revamping “the style of the national team from European long ball to a Latin game of possession and control… .”
Latino identity
The soccer identity Bora built on the field caught on in the stands with Latino fans, too. The U.S.’ 1991 CONCACAF Gold Cup championship run brought out some of these cultural dynamics. I have vivid memories of the U.S.’ 2-0 victory over Mexico at the Los Angeles Coliseum.
Not surprisingly, Mexican fans vastly outnumbered everyone else. But in that “everyone else,” there were pockets of Latino fans – of Central and South American background – who got behind the upstart U.S. team. It was rather telling, however, that Latino fans had no songs relating to the USMNT.
By that, I mean in Spanish. Certainly we were not the “U-S-A, U-S-A” crowd. We tried out the “Olé, Olé, Olé – USA, USA,” which, while it ended up rhyming, never seemed to stick. It was nonetheless joyful, sung in that spirit of supporting an underdog. That’s what supporting Bora’s teams felt like. It was not as if you were choosing between the U.S. and your background.
Bora’s hiring also empowered the Spanish language media. For the first time, Spanish television and print outlets were the main way to see and hear the coach of the USMNT. It has been explained away as just a product of Bora being fluent in Spanish. This was true.
He has a Mexican wife and daughter, and he had built a coaching career primarily in Mexico. But he also relished the connections. Latino journalists appreciated him. In contrast, the “mainstream” platforms had a more roundabout access to the coach’s perspectives, which was attributed to his limited English. Evidently, it didn’t register that their limited Spanish also mitigated the possibilities of longer, more complex interviews.
Connection to Latinos
La Opinión’s coverage of Bora’s introductory press conference recounted his coaching stints with clubs in Mexico (Pumas, Tecos, etc…), Argentina (San Lorenzo), and Italy (Udinese). It retold his past World Cup successes with Mexico in 1986 and Costa Rica in 1990. Famed columnist Fernando Páramo also devoted his “La Tribuna” space to Bora’s hire, pointing out the coach’s wish “to play a different style…to brindar espectáculo (give a show).”
Bora saw in Latin American soccer examples of that espectáculo. In a 1993 interview at the Copa America in Ecuador, he explained how he was blending the experiences and expectations of the European and U.S.-based players on the national team: “The ones in Europe are used to playing faster, but it’s more important to think faster and not necessarily push the tempo as much—like the Colombian players.”
His connection to Latino fans crystallized in southern California, where the USMNT trained and played dozens of friendlies in the early 1990s. There’s the story of him scouting a Club América/Luis Angel Firpo match at East Los Angeles College (ELAC). He knew it was a chance to see players on the Mexican national team in person.
He also felt eminently comfortable in that space, in East L.A., surrounded by Mexican and Salvadoran fans. The local Spanish and Latin American media loved having him in the press box. The next day’s story in La Opinión (August 6, 1993) was more about watching the game with Bora than about the game itself. How many USMNT coaches before him, or even since, would have genuinely enjoyed that scene, and been able to talk about Hugo Sánchez, the Mexican First Division, and more, with Latino reporters?
Childhood memory
As a teenager, I had my own light-hearted moment with Bora at a U.S.-Brazil game played at the Los Angeles Coliseum in 1992. The match was part of the “Friendship Cup,” a four-team round robin organized to raise funds for the “Rebuild L.A.” efforts following the Rodney King riots.
Mexico and Colombia were the other teams involved, bringing out the full complement of Latino fans. As I saw things, being from a Brazilian-Peruvian family in South Gate, Calif., I clung most deeply to Brazil. But I could also otherwise jump around with friends with ties to any of the three other teams, and not sweat it.
With my dad and club soccer teammates, we gathered before the game at the gate where the team buses arrived. It was surreal to see Raí, Mauro Silva, and Bebeto walk right in front of me. Then came Bora, with the U.S. contingent. Without a second thought, and in my Brazil jersey, I called out, “Bora, Bora…me firmas, por favor?” (Will you sign for me please.)
Scribbling his name, he said something to the effect, “ah, Brasil, quítate esa camisa, hijo de p—…” (Ah, Brazil, take off that jersey, SOB”]
I laughed, understanding his point. I didn’t really have one. In hindsight, I appreciated the rich mixing of soccer and cultural identities that was taking place on the cusp of the 1994 Men’s World Cup.
The combination of Bora’s charisma, appreciation of Latin American soccer, and interaction with the Spanish language media made him familiar, veritably a naturalized Latino. His connection to Latino fans was palpable, and it got a younger generation invested in the USMNT. I do not mean this in a patriotic or nationalist way, but in terms of soccer.
Cantor ties Mauricio Pochettino, Bora legacy
Last weekend, with U.S. soccer pundits ablaze on social media looking for confirmation of Mauricio Pochettino’s official announcement, legendary sportscaster Andrés Cantor brought into view a familiar face. Cantor posted a heartfelt birthday message to Bora, wishing him a happy 80th. He recalled Bora as one “who changed soccer for good in the U.S,” and included a picture of both, side-by-side, from the early 1990s.
While coincidental, Mauricio Pochettino’s announcement and Bora’s birthday—both references mean something to Latinx fans. We’ll see if and how Mauricio Pochettino makes his mark with Latinos in the U.S.
Celso Thomas Castilho
Contributor
*A product of the University of California system, Celso Thomas Castilho received his PhD in Latin American history from UC Berkeley. He is an associate professor of history at Vanderbilt University, where he teaches a course called “Fútbol-Soccer: Latinx Culture, Gender, and Diaspora.” He is writing a Latino history of the 1994 Men’s World Cup.
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