Christian Pulisic, USMNT Gold Cup Decision Made, per Report | OneFootball

U.S. men’s national team star Christian Pulisic is expected to be left out of Mauricio Pochettino’s Gold Cup squad this summer, according to multiple reports.

The AC Milan forward has endured a long campaign across multiple competitions with the Italian giants. After reaching the knockout stages of the Champions League and making the final of both the Supercoppa Italiana and Coppa Italia, Pulisic has amassed 49 appearances.

Fox Sports were the first to report that Pulisic would be overlooked after being “beaten up physically”. This mutual decision is said to have been made to not only preserve the star forward for next season, but also the 2026 World Cup, which will be jointly hosted by the U.S., Mexico and Canada.

ESPN supported the story, adding that Pulisic has been managing a “chronic hip flexor issue” since March.

The Gold Cup is a biennial international tournament competed by Concacaf countries. The three-week jamboree will be hosted in the U.S. and kicks off on June 14, the same day as the newly expanded Club World Cup—which is also staged in the U.S.

This creates a conflict between U.S. internationals who are already scheduled to be representing their clubs at the tournament. Borussia Dortmund’s Giovanni Reyna alongside the Juventus pairing Timothy Weah and Weston McKennie are all expected to be unavailable.

“The Club World Cup doesn’t benefit any national team,” Pochettino recently moaned. “We understand the business side of football, but it’s up to us to minimize the impact.”

Pulisic was included in a 60-player preliminary roster by Pochettino which is set to be cut down to 26 on June 4 before the tournament begins 10 days later. The Milan forward was part of the squad which lost the Concacaf Nations League semifinal to Panama in March before captaining the side to a 2–1 defeat to Canada in the third-place playoff.