Who would have imagined that Pep Guardiola’s attacking soccer could be a double-edged sword? Despite being a pioneer of something that was considered groundbreaking in the tactical world, its widespread adoption seems to have ruined the beautiful game—at least Tim Howard thinks so. The USMNT icon believes not every team can play ‘expansive football’—a cult, that he has even advised Mauricio Pochettino not to follow while in charge of the Star and Stripes.

This is something that Howard says after looking at the previous USMNT manager’s gameplay. In fact, the former goalkeeper has very crucial advice for the new manager. “What Gregg Berhalter did was—You look back at my generation, we were just a bunch of tough rugged guys, we had a couple of match-winners. He got this team [Golden Generation] to believe they could compete and be expansive and play well in the forward areas,” he said, in the latest segment of The Overlap US, on ‘It’s Called Soccer’.

“I think what happened was in all ways, Pep Guardiola has ruined football. Pep Guardiola has taught everybody that they can play expansive football. They can’t. Not everybody can do it, three teams in the world can do it really well,” added Howard, highlighting how Berhalter made a wrong decision by following the iconic Barcelona manager’s suit, regardless of the lack of potency the US stars possess to handle such tactical gameplay.

Instead, the former USA No.1 wants Pochettino to remain resolute, just like he has been with his previous teams. Howard advised the 52-year-old to retain a solid defensive structure, with two banks of four and two forwards up top, emphasizing the importance of allowing the attacking players to express themselves while maintaining defensive stability.

“If he starts to instill that resoluteness defensively, they have enough players in the forward areas where they can be dangerous,” concluded Howard. Be that as it may, this advice seems likely to work out well for Pochettino. Tim knows what went wrong for the USMNT over the years and believes that avoiding these mistakes can prove beneficial for the Golden Generation, even though he doesn’t think it will be enough for them to win the World Cup.

Tim Howard doesn’t believe USMNT will win the World Cup with Mauricio Pochettino

In a similar segment, Tim Howard was asked about his realistic expectations with the Mauricio Pochettino-led USMNT. Interestingly, the former Everton and Manchester United player responded, “We’ll talk about this for the next two years and my outlook won’t change. The fact of the matter is I think that sadly only four teams are capable of winning the World Cup.” Unfortunately, in these four teams, there is no USA.

Howard said that even though getting past the group stages is an easy prerequisite, it’s not the bar anymore. “It almost sounds like a loser mentality as I explain it but get into the quarterfinals maybe and give a really good account of yourself. I think that’s something we could be proud of with that team,” he added.

Just like they gave their best in the 2022 World Cup round of 16 clash against the Netherlands, Tim expects Pochettino and Co. to at least cross the RO16 clash with a signature win and let fate and luck do the job in the last eight. We shall give it to Howard for being truthful, not just on USMNT’s World Cup chances but also regarding his advice to Pochettino.