English Premier League giant Chelsea’s financial obligations with Mauricio Pochettino are the chief driving factor behind his delay in joining the USMNT. Toppling all rumors, the US Soccer appointed Gregg Berhalter’s deputy Mikey Varas as the MNT’s interim coach for this week’s friendlies. However, former US defender Alexi Lalas had a cheeky reading about the USMNT delaying Pochettino’s hire. He thinks the American federation and the team are saving the Argentine from an embarrassing debut.

The USMNT is meeting with Jesse Marsch’s Canada this weekend. So, Alexi Lalas recently spoke at length about the intricacies of the North American meet. The US veteran not-so-subtly hinted that the USMNT would struggle to make the best out of Marsch and co.

“I mean, if his [Pochettino] first game in charge ends up being this team losing to Canada, which is certainly possible given the strength of Canada and where they are right now,” said Lalas during the State of the Union podcast, when asked if the USMNT delayed Poch’s announcement to avoid Canada.

He then lauded the Canada boss for maintaining the firepower within the Canuck side. “They’re flying under Jesse Marsch,” Lalas added. He continued, saying the US Soccer Federation would come under negative limelight if Mauricio Pochettino lost in his US debut.

“That [defeat against Canada] would not be a good look for him [Pochettino] or for the federation. So I don’t know, maybe, maybe I have. Maybe I have my tinfoil on here,” the US veteran continued.

While Lalas’ claim was indeed humorous, we cannot assume that’s why the Argentine is taking time to take over at the American camp. Let’s see why there’s a delay and how players are still in the dark about the new coach’s appointment.

Why is Mauricio Pochettino taking time to join as the USMNT head coach?

Mauricio Pochettino’s severance package with Chelsea stresses that the club should pay his wages until he finds a new club or a coaching role. Since the Argentine has verbally nodded to US Soccer, Chelsea stresses it doesn’t owe Poch. Meanwhile, the English club and the US Soccer have been negotiating to arrange a third-party sponsor to pay the former Tottenham and PSG coach’s wages.

Meanwhile, certain rumors also suggest that Chelsea and the USSF have resolved the financial constraints associated with Pochettino’s move. However, USMNT players say that Pochettino’s signing is not final yet. “We feel and have been told that when something happens, we will know. And everybody else will know pretty quickly after. So we are updated, but we have not been told anything is final up to this point,” USMNT defender Tim Ream said in a recent interview.

Since this is the case in the USSF and USMNT front office, the likes of Lalas, definitely have room to doubt if the US team is avoiding Marsch and Co. What do you think? Tell us in the comments.