Instead of focusing on road to 2026, fans and pundits have been dragged into a circular debate that distracts from bigger picture
The British rapper Central Cee released a song last year in which he claimed that he and an unspecified opponent would go "band4band." The translation of that, in American terms, is the implication that "Cench" – as he is known – is willing to outmatch, outbrag, or simply outdo anyone at anything – and willingly watch be dragged down into whatever bragadocious clash they're involved in.
If Central Cee can't win – and he win – then no one can.
Of course, the BRIT Award-winning artist is missing the broader point here. There's collateral damage to his actions. But his will to weigh in, outspeak, or have the final word, means that whatever people, objects, or interests around him become irrelevant. Everything goes sideways. No one wins.
And so, with that, we arrive at the current state of the U.S. men's national team and the current, seemingly all-consuming, apparently never-ending drama surrounding Christian Pulisic and his decision to skip the Gold Cup, which begins this weekend. It's all a bit silly, really. Pulisic is a professional soccer player who has decided he needs a few months to rest his legs, recover from a litany of knocks, and reset ahead of what will be – by any measure – the biggest year of his career.
This is a decision that many a USMNT legend has taken exception to. Pulisic's commitment to his country has been called into question by Landon Donovan, Tim Howard, Clint Dempsey and pretty much every other U.S. talking head you can name (excpetion: Taylor Twellman, who has proved a voice of reason).
Pulisic has claimed it is total nonsense. His dad, too, has weighed in. Cue social media explosion, and endless talking points and podcast pilings on to follow.
But whatever side you take isn't really the point. The issue is now broader. We have two camps – one that says Pulisic is smart, the other that says Pulisic is selfish. And instead of the focus being on how this team needs to gear up for the 2026 World Cup, fans and pundits alike have been dragged into a circular debate that distracts from the bigger picture: Mauricio Pochettino's USMNT is reeling, having lost four straight at home for the first time since 1988, and the World Cup is now less than a year away.
Unity, more than ever, is essential. The U.S. soccer sphere is caught in a Band4Band. And somehow, it has to end.
GettyPulisic decides to sit out
On May 22, the USMNT released its squad for two pre-Gold Cup friendlies. Eagle-eyed onlookers very quickly noted that Pulisic – captain, star, and, by some distance, the most gifted player to ever wear the U.S. jersey – was not on the roster.
U.S. soccer put out a preemptive statement from sporting director Matt Crocker, outlining the reason for Pulisic's absence: “Christian and his team approached the federation and the coaching staff about the possibility of stepping back this summer, given the amount of matches he has played in the past two years at both the club and international level with very little break… After thoughtful discussions and careful consideration, we made the collective decision that this is the right moment for him to get the rest he needs. The objective is to ensure he’s fully prepared to perform at the highest level next season."
And that should have been that.
There were always going to be a few pundits with opinions. The standard lineup of former USMNT players turned critics – Donovan, Howard, Dempsey, Herculez Gomez, Alexi Lalas, Twellman – were always going to unleash their takes. This is an outrage economy, and clicks keep the money flowing through the capitalist system of anger and vitriol.
But Pulisic is a grown up. He knows the media landscape. This really should have been one news cycle – a few days of disgruntled guys getting on their respective podcasts and saying words to whet the appetite for punditry. It would have all been rather nice, too. That's what most punditry is these days: saying words to get a reaction.
Pulisic could have sat back, gone on holiday, done all of the daily things that come with being Christian Pulisic, and tried to tune out the rhetoric from those losing their minds far, far, away.
AdvertisementJayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn ImagesThe Gold Cup – which suddenly matters
But the USMNT are struggling. Mauricio Pochettino had a bright start to his tenure, and was 3-1 after four games in charge – the one loss coming with an injury-depleted side in Mexico, an admittedly forgivable outcome – last fall.
Since then, things have rather tailed off. They lost both games at the Nations League finals, including a gutting last-minute defeat to a wonderfully set-up Panama side, who pipped them with a classic counter-attack in the last minute in the semifinal. A defeat against Jesse Marsch's revamped, chip-on-their-shoulder Canada in the third-place match, and the critics were out in full.
Win those two games, take home the silverware, and none of this would be a problem. But now, there's a thirst for results. American exceptionalism is a part of sport, and always will be. Even when outmatched, the U.S. are always slyly expected to put on a performance – or at least fall in heroic fashion. What this country will not accept, though, is repeat defeats.
In that sense, ironically, the Gold Cup could not have arrived at a worse time. It comes in the middle of a very exciting but very strange summer of soccer that no one quite knows what to make of. Going head-to-head with the Club World Cup in the U.S. this summer, the Gold Cup is a tournament declining in importance – and one in which Pulisic hasn't played in since 2019. Previous manager Gregg Berhalter took a weakened side to it on more than one occasion..
But expectations shift based on form. And with this prevailing sense that the USMNT to win something – anything – before the World Cup, it was widely assumed that Pulisic and the rest of the squad's available core contingent would show up. Apparently not. There are injuries elsewhere, and some players missing because of CWC commitments.
But Pulisic has taken the brunt of the blame. Lals outlined his position rather emphatically.
"This is a bad look for Christian Pulisic, but it’s also a bad look for this team at the exact moment when they need to be doing the opposite," he said on his podcast. "This summer you need to come out with people coming out saying ‘Yeah, I’m jacked, I cannot wait to watch the World Cup next summer because of what I’ve seen.' "
Getty ImagesStruggles on the pitch
This, all would have mattered even less if the USMNT were performing on the pitch. But coming off the Nations League losses, they went into back-to-back fixtures with Turkey and Switzerland fielding two almost entirely different XIs, with a squad that was admittedly light on long-term options.
It was always going to be a losing battle. But a 2-1 heroic defeat and 4-0 battering, with two teams of backups' backups failing to impress, showed just how shallow the USMNT player pool is relative to the rest of the world.
This team does not have the luxury of dipping into a second team – never mind a third. And they were appropriately punished for doing so, while the likes of Pulisic, Weston McKennie, Tim Weah, Antonee Robinson, Sergino Dest, Ricardo Pepi, Gio Reyna, Yunus Musah and others were watching from afar.
But those results only fueled the fire. Anger got, well, angrier.
Pulisic bore the brunt of the criticism, the former USMNT hive suggesting that his decision not to play impacted the team's on-field performance. It cannot be emphasized enough how illogical that assumption is. A fit Pulisic might have given the USMNT more of a chance, but this relatively inexperienced side were still outmatched and outclassed.
These are professionals. The absence of one player does not affect the dynamic of a whole side. Tyler Adams, one of the few regular starters in this squad – though he missed the Switzerland game, too, with injury – reinforced that notion.
"We don't talk about that internally as a group," Adams told the Associated Press. "The noise on the outside is the noise on the outside. I think we need to focus on what we need to do as a group and continue to build."
Still, it served as a distraction for the wider sphere, his comments only fueling more fire. The seemingly inexhaustible supply of talking points have only multiplied.
Getty Images SportPulisic's misguided interview
The noise only got louder. Donovan and Howard weighed in. Words were exchanged. Pulisic, at least initially, stayed quiet and went on holiday.
Then came last week. Pulisic's dad, Mark, brought the conversation back to the fore. He sent a ChatGPT – yes, you read that right – generated message, calling Donovan out for his comments. The whole "soccer Dad" rhetoric came to the fore, and some floated the notion that Pulisic is unable to fight his own battles.
And that – three weeks after the original news broke – is when Pulisic decided to talk.
He really shouldn't have. Pulisic should have continued his holiday, returned to Milan for preseason, and let his game do the talking. This is one of those rare, rare cases when a captain should be encouraged to stay quiet, avoid the fray. Instead, Pulisic – not known for launching verbal volleys – opened up. He didn't quite tear into U.S. soccer, but he did defend himself ardently.
In an interview with CBS, he revealed that he had offered to play in the pre-Gold Cup friendlies, but had been turned down by Pochettino. He said that it had "hurt" to watch his team lose. He insisted that he had made the right decision in recharging and resetting. But most importantly, he defended himself against the legends who had been calling him out.
"You can talk about my performances, whatever you want. But to question my commitment, especially towards the national team? In my opinion that's way out of line," he said. "It's tough, especially as well when privately they talk to me and clearly want to show support and be your friend and everything… and then they say something slightly different publicly. That's fine. Does it hurt me? Am I surprised by it? Not really, people are always going to have their opinions."
That was his mistake.