Former U.S. Under-20 coach Mikey Varas will lead the U.S. men's national team on an interim basis during the upcoming international window in September, a source confirmed to ESPN.
Varas will be in charge even if Mauricio Pochettino is officially named USMNT coach before the window, giving Pochettino time to familiarize himself with the U.S. Soccer Federation and the broader landscape of American soccer.
The United States will host Canada in Kansas City, Kansas, on Sept. 7 and New Zealand in Cincinnati three days later in a pair of friendlies.
Previously, both The Washington Post and The Athletic reported that Varas would take over on a temporary basis.
ESPN reported Thursday that Pochettino has agreed to succeed Gregg Berhalter as the new permanent USMNT coach.
Sources told ESPN that no final agreement has been signed between the two sides and that the USSF board of directors has not yet signed off on any agreement. A regular board meeting is scheduled for Friday, Aug. 23, though a special meeting could be called before then to finalize the appointment, a source added.
An independent source told ESPN on Thursday that Pochettino's situation with his former club Chelsea remains unresolved. The Premier League club owes him money and he cannot sign a contract to take charge of the U.S. national team until a solution is found.
Varas most recently worked on Berhalter's team at the Copa America, where the United States was eliminated in the group stage.
Prior to that stint, Varas was in charge of the U.S. Under-20 men's national team from 2021-2023, and his team won the 2022 Concacaf Championship, a title that officially qualified the United States for the 2024 Olympics.
At the subsequent 2023 FIFA U-20 World Cup, Varas led the U-20 team to the quarter-final stage, where the team was defeated 2–0 by Uruguay.
Varas was an assistant for FC Dallas from 2016-2019 under Luchi Gonzalez. Prior to that role, he worked at the Dallas and Sacramento Republic academies.
