Pochettino defends using email to tell U.S. squad about World Cup cuts

Mauricio Pochettino defended his decision to email rather than call players to tell them they hadn't made the United States men's national team's final World Cup squad.

"The players (that) didn't make the roster, they don't want to hear me apologize," Pochettino said, according to The Guardian's Pablo Iglesias Maurer. "I care. Do you know why I care? For two weeks, I did not sleep. And even today, I cannot enjoy the 26 guys in front of me because I am still thinking about guys that are out. That is to care. If I call (the players I cut), it is about myself. If I call, I say, 'I am very human about calling and giving an explanation.'

"Come on," the head coach added. "That is bullshit."

The 55 players in the preliminary squad were told late last week whether they made the cut. Each member of the 26-man World Cup roster received a video message from Pochettino informing them of their selection, Maurer reports.

Though the final World Cup squad was leaked by Sunday, each player was introduced individually on a stage in front of the Brooklyn Bridge in New York City on Tuesday. American soccer legends Landon Donovan, Stu Holden, Alexi Lalas, and Carli Lloyd were part of the team covering the event live on FOX.

Donovan, a veteran of three World Cups, learned he didn't make the 2014 roster through a face-to-face conversation with then-coach Jurgen Klinsmann.

"To some extent, I was thinking about it this morning - not hearing from him directly might actually be a good thing," Donovan said. "It's a shitty situation, it's not gonna change anything. Yes, if I was a part of the team for a long time, I would've wanted a phone call. If I'd not been part of the team for a long time, I wouldn't have cared. Every player is different, though."

Herculez Gomez, who played for the USMNT at the 2010 World Cup, described Pochettino's policy as a "harsh way to treat players that have, for better or worse, given their blood and sweat." He specifically pointed to Diego Luna, one of the stalwarts of the team under Pochettino, as an omitted player especially deserving of an explanation, noting that U.S. Soccer and FOX Sports were "milking him for the marketing dollars" in a World Cup commercial.

However, Pochettino insisted that calling all 55 players from the provisional roster was "not the way." The Argentine boss can make emergency changes to his squad up to 24 hours before the United States' first World Cup match against Paraguay on June 12.