Christian Pulisic‘s surprising decision not to play in the Concacaf Gold Cup this summer has generated a lot of criticism. However, the 26-year-old Pulisic revealed an unexpected detail about his decision.
The truth is that the player and captain of the U.S. National Team decided to take advantage of this summer to rest after a long season with AC Milan, which left him in need of recovery.
Despite this, in an interview on the CBS podcast ‘Call it What You Want’, Pulicic revealed a surprising detail: “I did want to be a part of at least the two friendlies,” against Turkey and Switzerland. “I did speak with the coaches and I asked. I wanted to be part of the team in whatever capacity I could“.
However, he was forced to watch his team’s two defeats (Turkey 2-1 and Switzerland 4-0) as just another fan because his coaches did not see fit. “They said no,” Pulisic revealed about coach Mauricio Pochettino and his coaching staff.
“They said they only wanted one roster and that’s coach’s decision. I fully respect that. I didn’t understand it, but it is what it is,” he told former U.S. national team players Jimmy Conrad, Charlie Davies and Tony Meola.
Pulicic’s last chance with the national team before the FIFA World Cup
Assuring that he made “the best decision for me and also in the long term for my team,” Christian was asked by Jimmy Conrad why he was depriving himself of the last chance to play competitive soccer with the national team before the World Cup.
“I think I was pretty clear I knew how I was feeling towards the end of last season,” Pulisic said.
“I was dealing with a couple of small things that just kept on lingering and to go on and straight into the summer and play for up to six weeks and then go directly into preseason with my team and get no rest and then go straight into the next season and straight into the World Cup. I had to make a decision, and this is what I feel is best for myself, and like I said, ultimately best for the team,” he said.
He also criticized those who did not understand his decision to take some time to recover and come back stronger, although he admitted that he struggles not to let those comments affect his day-to-day life. He is also a human being, he gets tired and goes through difficult moments: “I just don’t understand why also so many people are so big on just wanting to give out these takes when they’ve been through tough moments themselves” he concluded.
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