Pochettino ignores Pulisic controversy, focused on the future of the USMNT

Pulisic Returns to the US National Team, McKennie is Left Out

The coach of the United States men’s national soccer team, Mauricio Pochettino, has confirmed that he has not spoken to Christian Pulisic since the star forward chose not to participate in the Concacaf Gold Cup this summer. Pochettino emphasized the need to look to the future. Pulisic justified his absence from the Gold Cup citing fatigue and the need to recover from some injuries. This decision generated criticism, including questions about his commitment to the team from former USMNT players like Landon Donovan and Tim Howard.

• Pulisic returns to USMNT, but McKennie is excluded.
• Pulisic responds to criticism from former USMNT players.
• Musah has big plans for USMNT and Milan in the World Cup year.

Pulisic, on the “Call It What You Want” podcast, defended his position, calling the questions about his commitment “out of place.” He also revealed that he offered to play in two friendlies prior to the Gold Cup, but Pochettino turned him down. In response, Pochettino said that he was the one who made the decisions about the lineup. Pulisic was included in Pochettino’s list for the friendly matches against South Korea on September 6 and Japan three days later. The American coach stated that he has not had communication with the AC Milan player since the Gold Cup.

“No, we don’t speak with Christian. I think there’s nothing to talk about. I think everything is behind us, everything that happened in the summer, and I think we need to look forward now.”

Mauricio Pochettino

“I think we have a plan for each player, and the plan for Christian now is to call him up, see him on this field and, of course, hope he arrives in good shape, fresh and in a good position with Milan, with his team and ready to compete. That’s the most important thing.”

Mauricio Pochettino looks to move past Christian Pulisic’s absence from this summer’s Gold Cup.While Pulisic returns, Weston McKennie, Juventus midfielder, was not called up. Some absent players in the last call-up, such as Antonee Robinson (Fulham) and Ricardo Pepi (PSV Eindhoven), return from injuries. Others, like Gio Reyna (Borussia Mönchengladbach) and Matt Turner (New England Revolution), have recently changed clubs. In McKennie’s case, Pochettino justified his decision by explaining that he wanted the player to be “more settled in his club”, where he has had difficulties in getting playing time in the preseason and at the start of Serie A. Pochettino also mentioned McKennie’s participation in the Club World Cup with Juventus as a factor, pointing out that Pulisic did not participate in the competition and, therefore, was more rested.

“Christian didn’t participate [in the Club World Cup]. That’s a big difference. I think Weston needs time to prepare with the team and it’s important that he’s with his team fighting for a place.”

Mauricio Pochettino

“He didn’t play last weekend. But that’s not the reason we didn’t call him, but to give him the opportunity… to fight for a place to be on the field every week competing because that will put him in his best form. “Because we know him very well and we know his talent, we wanted to give him the opportunity.”