U.S. men’s national team coach Mauricio Pochettino declined to say why star forward Christian Pulisic is not included on the USMNT’s first roster since the 2026 World Cup, stating simply that the 28 players selected for an upcoming training camp and friendlies are “the players that we want to see, and we want to work (with), and that’s it.”
Pochettino was speaking to reporters less than an hour after naming a squad that features 13 holdovers from the World Cup and 13 other players, including eight teenagers, who’ve never played for the USMNT.
Among the omissions were Folarin Balogun and Weston McKennie, who have missed recent games for their clubs due to minor injuries; and Pulisic, who, unlike the other two, has played twice over the past week.
When asked about Balogun, Pochettino said that he’d spoken with the 25-year-old striker recently, after Balogun’s proposed transfer to Everton fell through at the eleventh hour.
“After his situation,” Pochettino said, “yes, we have some conversation about how he is, how he feels, that he needs to move on. It was a very nice conversation.
“Now he’s focused on trying to recover from a small issue in one of his legs. But I think now he’s training. Last week, (he) nearly was training normally, and they’ll see if he can play as soon as possible in his club (Monaco).
“But of course we were in touch with him — I was in touch with him.”
When asked about Pulisic, on the other hand, Pochettino said: “After the World Cup, we start to change and to see and to analyze all the players, potential players for this camp. Like I always say, I think the 28 players that are going to be involved in these four games, for different circumstances, are the best players that — or the players that we want to see, and we want to work (with), and that’s it.
“It’s not a point, now, the first camp of this new cycle, to start to explain why is one (player included), why is another not (included). Because if not, maybe we spend one hour here, or all day. Why not maybe 100 players that are not in the squad, and why are another 28?
“Always, (the way) we work is to try to call the players that we believe are the best for this roster, when we are analyzing all the circumstances, and that’s it.
“I think the most important (thing) is … fresh start. Now is a completely different approach than was in the past. The World Cup is in four years. We need to work with different objectives and goals, and for different reasons, that roster is the roster that is the best roster that we can design for this camp.”
At times throughout 2025, Pochettino would speak about specific players who were omitted. For example, 12 months ago, he explained Weston McKennie’s absence from a September training camp. But a month later, he sidestepped a question about Yunus Musah and Joe Scally, and pushed back on the notion that any players “have a right to be here.” He also did not explain any World Cup omissions after naming his squad for the tournament in May.
His lack of an explanation for Pulisic’s absence, however, will fuel more questions about his relationship with the 27-year-old winger and Pulisic’s role with the national team over the coming years.
Pulisic suffered a microfracture of his tibia/fibula in the USMNT’s round-of-16 loss to Belgium, but returned to training at AC Milan last month and has been available for selection since. He was an unused substitute for Milan’s first three games of the new season. He then came off the bench on Saturday and, in his first 45 minutes of the season, helped lead a comeback. He again played the second half of a Europa League game four days later. It’s therefore unclear if his omission is related to fitness or other factors.
Pulisic has been the face of the USMNT for the better part of a decade, and its attacking catalyst ever since he burst onto the scene as a teenager.
But he has seemingly had a rocky relationship with Pochettino, a coach who has publicly insisted that he would treat star players the same as fringe ones.
That came to a head in the summer of 2025, when Pulisic asked out of the Concacaf Gold Cup in order to rest during his Milan offseason and got into a public sparring battle with the coach. The two mended fences in the aftermath, but even so, Pochettino referenced that ordeal and called it “bullsh**” in recent comments he made looking back.
