Mauricio Pochettino Bluntly Addressed Officiating After USMNT's Gold Cup Defeat

Karl Rasmussen | Jul 6, 2025

United States head coach Mauricio Pochettino / Troy Taormina-Imagn Images

The USMNT's 2-1 defeat to Mexico in the Gold Cup Final will best be remembered by one controversial decision from officials, in which they determined that no penalty was to be awarded after Mexican defender Jorge Sanchez hit the ball with his hand while falling to the ground.

The game was tied 1-1 at that point, though the USA would concede a goal 10 minutes later, and many felt as if a penalty should've been called for a handball.

USMNT coach Mauricio Pochettino spoke to reporters after the game and didn't mince words when addressing that incident.

"I'm not going to cry. I want to tell the truth. And the truth is if that happened in the opposite half, in the other box, for sure it’s a penalty," Pochettino said.

"The truth was that if that happened in the opposite half in their box- for sure a penalty."

Mauricio Pochettino speaks on the apparent handball that was not called on Mexico in the 66th minute pic.twitter.com/1QLQlOzwXb

— FOX Soccer (@FOXSoccer) July 7, 2025

"Because we cannot talk about rules. A silly penalty? Silly penalty. Like plenty of penalties are so silly. Silly, yes. The player was with the knee on the floor. He push the hand over the ball. It's not that the hand was on the floor and the ball touched [it]... That was a penalty, and it maybe [would've been] 2–1 for us and now we're celebrating the trophy," he added.

Clearly, Pochettino felt that his team was wrongfully denied a penalty shot, and he was rather critical of the game's officiating in the aftermath when suggesting that the referees got it all wrong when it came to the ruling on the handball.

---

READ THE LATEST SOCCER NEWS, TRANSFER RUMORS AND MATCH REACTION

feed