As the minutes ticked by and the goal did not arrive, Mauricio Pochettino fidgeted and fretted on the touchline. He crouched down on his haunches. He ran his fingers through his hair. He paced back and forth to his coaching staff, airing his exasperation at his players, the referee, the universe.
When the whistle blew on Saturday, and Tottenham Hotspur’s 2-1 defeat to Manchester United in the F.A. Cup semifinals was confirmed, he was — by his own estimation — “disappointed, frustrated.” He did not look much like a man who considered the F.A. Cup a distraction, a sideline, an irrelevance.