Doug McIntyre
Soccer Journalist
Christian Pulisic, the face of the U.S. men’s national team and A.C. Milan’s leading scorer this season, will not be included on the USMNT roster when head coach Mauricio Pochettino names his 26-player squad for this summer’s Concacaf Gold Cup, multiple sources tell FOX Sports.
Pulisic, who will set a new career high for minutes played if he logs more than 49 on Saturday against Monza in the Italian club’s final match of the Serie A campaign, is beaten up physically following two back-to-back marathon European seasons and international games. He won’t participate in the biennial regional championship as a result, the sources said, adding that the decision was also made with his health at the all-important 2026 FIFA World Cup in mind.
The 16-team Gold Cup kicks off on June 14 in 12 American cities plus Vancouver, Canada. Last month, the USMNT was drawn into a group with Trinidad and Tobago, Haiti and guest nation Saudi Arabia. U.S. Soccer is scheduled to announce its Gold Cup roster on Thursday morning. Pochettino will take questions from reporters later in the day.
Pulisic’s absence further weakens the USMNT, which will also be without the services of Borussia Dortmund attacker Gio Reyna and Juventus teammates Weston McKennie and Tim Weah this summer. All three veterans represented the U.S. at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
Both Dortmund and Juve are involved in FIFA’s expanded Club World Cup, which is being staged in the U.S. at the same time as the Gold Cup. Global soccer’s governing body ruled last year that Club World Cup participants don’t have to release players for international duty in June and July as they usually would.
Pochettino lamented the scheduling conflict during a Zoom conference on Tuesday.
“It’s a situation that forces a team like the U.S.,” said the former Chelsea, Paris Saint-Germain and Chelsea manager, “to get by without players that would normally be with us.”
Pulisic has scored 17 goals and added 12 assists for the Rossoneri across all competitions so far this season. Both are already career highs. If the 26-year-old Pennsylvania native takes the field against Monza it would be his 50th match of 2024-25, equaling the career-most total Pulisic set a year ago.
The 2025-26 European campaign is a hugely important one for Pulisic and the rest of the USMNT’s overseas-based contingent because the end of it butts directly against the 2026 World Cup, which will be co-hosted by the U.S. along with North American neighbors Canada and Mexico.
Pulisic has no goals in two international appearances this year. The U.S. has won seven of the previous 17 Gold Cups, second all-time to Mexico’s nine. The Americans’ most recent title came in 2021. Pulisic played in the 2019 edition, his only Gold Cup experience to date. He was named the best young player at that event after helping the USMNT reach the final, where they narrowly lost to El Tri.
Doug McIntyre is a soccer reporter for FOX Sports who has covered United States men’s and women’s national teams at FIFA World Cups on five continents. Follow him @ByDougMcIntyre.
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