Christian Pulisic made a debatable but reasonable decision last month to skip the Gold Cup, and that, he surely hoped, would be that. His body and mind were “talking” to him. They needed a full offseason to recharge ahead of next year’s World Cup. He could play two friendlies for the U.S. men’s national team in June, but a monthlong tournament? Nah. He told head coach Mauricio Pochettino and U.S. Soccer that he’d rather take some time off.
And that, we learned this week, was the only time that Pulisic and Pochettino, the team’s star and renowned boss, have spoken over the past month.
In separate media appearances on Thursday and Saturday, they implicitly revealed discord that will now linger around the USMNT for a while.
The decision, meanwhile — inflamed by criticism, by Pulisic’s dad and by former USMNT stars — has unraveled into a soap opera.
Pulisic, in response to the criticism, pointedly disclosed in a podcast interview with CBS Sports that he’d asked to play in this month’s friendlies against Türkiye and Switzerland, but that coaches “said no.” It was “common sense” to use the same roster for the friendlies and the Gold Cup,” Pochettino said Saturday. Pulisic, 26, who has captained the USMNT dozens of times, added: “That’s coach’s decision, I fully respect that. I didn’t understand it, but it is what it is.”
Pochettino, speaking Saturday ahead of the USMNT’s Gold Cup opener, responded: “Players don’t need to understand or not understand. Players need to listen and to stick with our plan. They cannot dictate the plan, because if [so], we invert, we swap positions, no? … We explain why we decide not to include [him] in the friendly games, and then if you have some problems — that is not my problem, [for him] to understand or not understand.”
Mauricio Pochettino and Christian Pulisic after the USMNT lost to Canada in the CONCACAF Nations League third-place match in March. (Photo by Shaun Clark/ISI Photos/USSF/Getty Images for USSF)
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