USMNT Players Consider Skipping Gold Cup
During a recent US Men’s National Team (USMNT) training session at Osceola Heritage Park in Kissimmee, Florida, key players like Christian Pulisic and Antonee Robinson expressed their intentions to skip the upcoming Gold Cup this summer, prompting reactions from former USMNT legends Landon Donovan and Tim Howard. With the Gold Cup serving as the final international tournament before the US co-hosts the 2026 World Cup, the absence of prominent figures raised eyebrows.
Player Concerns and Decisions
Pulisic, who has played two consecutive seasons with Milan averaging 50 matches, cited fatigue as a key reason for his request to abstain from participating. Meanwhile, Robinson is dealing with knee tendinopathy—a chronic injury he managed during the latter half of the Premier League season. On Wednesday, Fulham announced that Robinson would undergo a minor knee surgery and utilize the summer for recovery. Yunus Musah also opted out of the Gold Cup due to unspecified personal reasons, as confirmed by his coach Mauricio Pochettino.
Criticism from Donovan and Howard
In an episode of their podcast “Unfiltered Soccer”, Donovan and Howard openly expressed their disappointment with these players’ decisions. Donovan, who can relate to experiencing burnout himself, reflected on his own time off from soccer in 2013—an absence that contributed to his exclusion from the 2014 World Cup roster. He acknowledged the mental and emotional challenges athletes face but criticized the lack of transparency from Pulisic, Robinson, and Musah regarding their decisions.
If there’s something serious going on in your life, I understand, but clarifying their reasons would help the fans understand better.
Despite his sympathies for the players’ situations, Donovan raised concerns about their commitments to their club teams as a contradiction to their reasons for skipping the national team. He specifically pointed out that both Pulisic and Musah were still active at Milan in a key season-ending match despite their claims of exhaustion, stating,
They had nothing to play for this weekend. Zero.
Similarly, he questioned Robinson’s commitment, noting that the left-back had chosen to withdraw from national selection prior to the Nations League finals due to injury, only to appear in matches immediately before and after the international window for Fulham, questioning the credibility of his stated reasons.
The Implications on Team Preparation
Furthermore, Howard echoed Donovan’s sentiments, lamenting the complications in preparing the team for the World Cup due to missing players and implied a need for stronger advocacy from US Soccer when communicating with the players’ clubs. He suggested that a lack of fruitful dialogue could indicate a deficit in US Soccer’s influence, saying,
If it hasn’t happened, it shows that US Soccer has no gravitas and no power.
Ongoing Debate
As discussions continue around the players’ choices, US Soccer has been contacted for a response, signaling an ongoing debate about athlete engagement with national duties as the countdown to the World Cup approaches.
