Matt Crocker built U.S. Soccer's future — then left for Saudi Arabia 2 months before the World Cup

Just two months before the World Cup, Matt Crocker is stepping down as the U.S. Soccer’s sporting director after three years to work for the Saudi Arabian federation.

Crocker is not a coach or a player; he’s essentially a general manager. So his surprise departure, first reported by Fox Sports, will have no direct impact on U.S. success or failure this summer. In terms of World Cup build-up, his work is done here.

How the Americans fare — and whether, with the spotlight at its brightest on home soil, they lift the sport as a whole to new heights — will rest to much extent with Crocker.

After all, the 51-year-old Welshman led the campaign to hire Mauricio Pochettino, the highest-paid coach in U.S. Soccer history by a wide margin. With so much at stake this summer, Crocker needed to get it right.

He did get it right with the women’s program, hiring Emma Hayes in the lead to the 2024 Olympics. Hayes orchestrated a gold medal campaign on short notice and put the Americans on a path to contend for the World Cup trophy next year in Brazil after the 2023 failure under Vlatko Andonovski.

She has also cycled in a fresh generation of talent, inspired her players, overseen the youth development structure and served as an ambassador for women’s sports.

For hiring Hayes, Crocker deserved a gold medal of his own.

The $6 million gamble on Mauricio Pochettino will be Matt Crocker's lasting verdict.

(Stephen Nadler/ISI Photos via Getty Images)

Crocker was also instrumental in planning the $228 million national training center, which will open next month near Atlanta and put U.S. Soccer’s 27 teams under one roof after decades of rotating venues. A few weeks ago, while giving venue tours, he spoke enthusiastically about how the vast complex will boost the sport from the youth levels to the senior squads.

It was all part of a job paying him about $1 million a year, the third highest at the federation behind Pochettino ($6 million) and Hayes ($1.5 million).

"It has been a privilege to be part of U.S. Soccer during such an important period for the sport in this country,” Crocker said. “I’m proud of what’s been built together and confident the team in place will continue to move the game forward and drive success on and off the field.”

But final judgement for him will come in June or July when the World Cup campaign ends, whether catastrophically in the group stage, fantastically in the final or probably somewhere in between.

Crocker chose Pochettino even though the Argentine, with many years of club coaching experience in big European leagues, had never guided a national team.

The rhythm is different; instead of having his group together almost every day for many months, Pochettino typically has it every few months for several days. The player pool is largely static; he can’t shop in the transfer market. What he can control is roster and lineup selections, tactics and motivational tricks.

Crocker took some risk in hiring the former Tottenham Hotspur, Paris Saint-Germain and Chelsea boss. And through Pochettino’s 18 months on the job, the results have been mixed and the vision cloudy at times. The Americans seemed to turn the corner last fall with a five-game unbeaten streak against quality opponents before crashing into a wall last month with comprehensive losses to European titans Belgium and Portugal.

For decades, the U.S. men have had a global ceiling; Pochettino’s assignment is to break through it. No one in American circles wants to settle for another World Cup farewell in the Round of 16, especially at home with an impressionable audience following the sport like never before.

Pochettino’s ability to take the next step will reflect on himself but also on Crocker, who put his faith — and the federation’s money — on hiring the right guy.