The luxury of YouTube is an event such as Christian Pulisic’s existential goal against Iran at the 2022 FIFA World Cup can be retrieved and revisited by anyone with a computer and an internet connection with just a few strikes of the keyboard.
And it’s immediately clear what price Pulisic paid for the goal that advanced the United States men’s national team from group play into the round of 16. It ranks with the most painful goals ever scored in the sport, with Pulisic inadvertently struck in what Bill Raftery would call the “onions” by the left knee of Iran goalkeeper Ali Beiranvand.
Through the magic of Google, pertinent facts about a game played a while back can be recalled in an instant, such as the weather conditions for the USMNT’s World Cup qualifier against Honduras in February 2022 at Allianz Field in St. Paul, Minn. With the temperature at 3 degrees Fahrenheit and the wind chill at minus-14, Pulisic played 25 minutes, scored a goal – and, perhaps more daunting, sat on the bench for the rest of regulation time as the team gained an essential three points toward qualifying for Qatar.
So let’s get this straight: The guy who froze his tail off and put his manhood on the line is the one we’re now supposed to believe doesn’t care enough about the national team?
Where does this stuff come from?
DECOURCY: Christian Pulisic needs rest more than anything this summer
Pulisic has become the subject of a runaway narrative that involves multiple alumni of the USMNT, a public debate between Pulisic’s father and all-time great Landon Donovan, Pulisic’s defense of his recent activity (and inactivity) and, of course, those fans who follow the program and rarely seem to find themselves in a good mood.
“You can talk about my performances – whatever you want,” Pulisic told CBS Sports Golazo. “But to question my commitment, especially towards the national team? In my opinion, that’s way out of line.”
Yes, for this, Pulisic was criticized publicly by another former national team player.
Pulisic’s decision to take the summer off following two years of near-constant competition is, quite simply, the best course for the most important USMNT player to prepare for the most important World Cup to this country since 1994. He has competed with only minimal interruption from August 2023 to May 2025 and, had he entered the CONCACAF Gold Cup, would have been looking at just a couple of multi-week breaks in a three-year stretch.
Now, he’ll enter the coming season, and next summer’s big event, as refreshed as he has been since his not-busy-enough stay with Chelsea FC from 2019-23. With star left back Jedi Robinson, right back Sergino Dest and strikers Folarin Balogun and Ricardo Pepi missing from the Gold Cup as they recover from injury, with midfielders Gio Reyna and Weston McKennie and winger Timothy Weah absent through commitment to the Club World Cup, having Pulisic involved in the Gold Cup meant nothing.
And still he has been criticized by analysts Tim Howard, Alexi Lalas, Herculez Gomez and Donovan for making this decision.
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Donovan criticized Pulisic for appearing in AC Milan’s final game even though it was meaningless, juxtaposed against his request not to participate in the Gold Cup. Except Pulisic knew he would not be playing in June and July, and playing for Milan is, quite literally, his job. He’s being paid $6 million a year by the club. That would seem to be a reason to play.
“There’s a narrative that Christian Pulisic is weak, that Pulisic is selfish, that he’s looking out for himself, that he doesn’t have pride, that he doesn’t care about the national team,” Gomez told ESPN FC. “And he sees, and he hears and he sees how bad the USMNT is. And he decides: I have to speak. And in speaking, I think he comes out worse. He comes out worse himself; he makes U.S. Soccer look bad. It’s a dumpster fire right now.”
How is it unreasonable for Pulisic to want to defend himself against allegations he is weak, selfish, self-absorbed and disinterested in the USMNT, for which he has appeared 78 times at age 26 and scored 32 goals, including the game-winner in CONCACAF Nations league in June 2021, in World Cup qualifying against Mexico in November 2021 and that World Cup winner?
And why am I having to pose this absurd rhetorical question?
The astonishing thing about all of this is not just how obviously contrived this controversy is, but that it surrounds the Gold Cup, a tournament to which the United States has not sent its primary national team since 2019. It no longer is the primary CONCACAF event; teams began taking the Nations League more seriously the moment it was introduced in 2019.
Pulisic, who is one of 10 players in Europe’s top five leagues to appear in at least 50 games each of the past two seasons, asked U.S. Soccer not to participate in the Gold Cup but offered to join the team for its training camp and friendly games against Turkiye and Switzerland.
Coach Mauricio Pochettino declined, which certainly is his prerogative, but his explanation that he considered the Gold Cup an “important” tournament for which those games offered an opportunity to prepare – that seems hollow. Consider two basic scenarios: 1) the U.S. wins the 2025 Gold Cup and subsequently eliminated from group play at the 2026 World Cup; 2) the U.S. falls short at the Gold Cup but then advances from group and on to the round of 16 at the World Cup. Which of those would be more appealing to USMNT fans? And so which should have been the focus of preparation through those two June friendlies?
Pochettino accelerated this needless controversy by speaking recently about his perception of the extreme commitment of players from other nations to their national teams, and of searching for USMNT players “who would die for you.” Except the comparison is bogus. European and South American players aren’t asked to compete in an extended continental tournament every two years; Copa America and the European Championship are quadrennial, like the World Cup. The UEFA Nations League championship recently won by Portugal, during which Donovan implied further criticism of Pulisic, required just a semifinal and final in the course of one week immediately after the continent’s club soccer season ended. It was over June 8; the Gold Cup will finish July 6.
It’s quite obvious Pochettino is using this commotion to make a point to those players absent – for whatever reason – about who will be in complete command when everyone gathers in advance of the World Cup kickoff in LA next June. He’s wise enough about this game to have recognized that Gregg Berhalter’s “second term” in charge was imploded by a player pool taking full advantage of the leverage gained over their coach when they advocated for him to remain coach following the U.S. Soccer investigation into his behavior as a collegian.
In taking this approach, Pochettino is attempting to coerce his primaryplayers into competing with greater verve the next time they wear a USA jersey. And there will be a next time for Pulisic, McKennie, Robinson and the others.
The coach’s strategy has merit, but also is badly timed. With so many analysts in the media and so many on soccer Twitter aggressively impugning this USMNT generation, and with the coach amplifying this message in his own way, the connection between the players and their fans – which ought to provide an enviable homefield advantage next summer across America – may become irretrievable.
