Christian Pulisic, arguably the face of the United States men’s national team this decade, will not be called into Mauricio Pochettino’s squad for this international break according to Doug McIntyre.
Pulisic has had a rocky relationship with the national team for some time and Pochettino used an expletive earlier this week when discussing the player’s decision to miss the 2025 Gold Cup in order to be his best self for the World Cup.
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Pulisic was diagnosed with a microfracture after subbing out of the USMNT’s final World Cup game, a dispiriting loss to Belgium. He missed several games early in AC Milan’s season and club manager Ruben Amorim had noted his displeasure. He was excellent in returning to the Milan lineup at the weekend.
The USMNT play friendlies with Chile, Peru, Canada and Mexico between September 26 and October 6.
What’s next for Christian Pulisic and the USMNT?
Pulisic has a future with the national team, no doubt, but this move feels like it was coming for a long time and may not have had much to do with the World Cup.
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Pochettino had spoken early in his USMNT tenure about players not being with the team to “play golf and go for dinner” as he implored the players to give more dedication to the team.
The ex-Spurs boss was never going to omit Pulisic from a USMNT squad getting ready for a World Cup — it was too important. But it would be a surprise if he made a mental note to keep an omission in his back pocket if things did not improve with Pulisic, who was notably not named captain at the World Cup.
There was likely a culture shock when Gregg Berhalter left the team; Those players had grown up with that boss and likely felt empowered when they were essentially able to engineer his rehiring after the tumultuos post-2022 World Cup.
With so reports saying that Thursday’s USMNT squad will include any number of young prospects for the first time, Pochettino is telling each and every one of them that they are neither bigger nor smaller than anyone else in the program. And he’s reiterating that to Pulisic.
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There are similarities to Landon Donovan taking a retreat to Cambodia during Jurgen Klinsmann’s reign with the team, as Klinsmann later acknowledged that the break as well as Donovan’s form and fitness led to the player’s omission from the 2014 World Cup.
There’s also a lesson in there to apply to this moment; While USMNT fans will likely understand Pochettino’s desire to have Pulisic in the Gold Cup camp, Donovan would later disclose harrowing mental health problems as part of career-long depression. We’re in no way saying anything about Pulisic, but players can have reasoning beyond the norm.
In any event, Pulisic turns 28 on Friday and is still a critical component for one of the best clubs in the world. He has 90 caps with the USMNT and has dotted the score sheet with 33 and 23 assists, a proper CONCACAF menace.
The next generation is coming, however, and the Yanks have performed well without Pulisic in the past. There are so many players beyond young prospects who could seize moments in a Pulisic-less USMNT. Malik Tillman is an able playmaker, Brenden Aaronson is in career-best form for Leeds, and Gio Reyna has a new lease on life at Strasbourg. The list goes on, and so does the program.
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