Alexi Lalas<\/a>, who played every minute in the 1994 World Cup, helping the U.S. reach the round of 16 and changing the trajectory of soccer in the U.S. forever. \u201cI can\u2019t believe we created an apathy towards this team a year out from hosting a World Cup.<\/p>\n\u201cI just think this summer\u2019s Gold Cup, a tournament in the U.S., is a great opportunity to create a more positive vibe surrounding the team and reignite a belief that they can do something special next summer. I don\u2019t think we can afford to waste it.\u201d<\/p>\n
That\u2019s all true. But Pulisic and the other first-choice players missing from the Gold Cup roster were put in a bad position by a global soccer environment with a rapacious appetite for matches \u2014 or rather a rapacious appetite for the money those matches produce.<\/p>\n
![\"Alexi](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/1748346673_359_\")
<\/p>\n
Former national team star Alexi Lalas, who played every minute of the 1994 World Cup, believes all Americans should be on hand for the final World Cup tuneup.<\/p>\n
(Jacob Kupferman \/ Associated Press)<\/p>\n
Consider Pulisic\u2019s schedule the last 12 months. For the U.S., he played in the Copa Am\u00e9rica, five friendlies and four Nations League matches. For AC Milan, the Italian club that pays his $5.8-million salary, he played in four tournaments, including Champions League. He\u2019s clearly banged up and needs some rest.<\/p>\n
Traditionally, the Champions League final was the last game on the European calendar. Now it\u2019s followed by the Club World Cup, a competition I\u2019m not sure anyone really needed but one that extends the club calendar for 32 teams for as long as another six weeks.<\/p>\n
Even at 26, that\u2019s a punishing schedule. If Pulisic and the others don\u2019t take a break now, they could head into the World Cup year running on fumes.<\/p>\n
\u201cMany people can say it\u2019s really important for us to be all together for the last time before the World Cup,\u201d Pochettino said in virtual meeting with reporters. \u201cAs a coaching staff we listen to the player. We have our own idea in everything, but after consideration we decided the best for him, the best for the team, the best for the national team is the decision that we made.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lalas isn\u2019t buying that.<\/p>\n
\u201cI recognize that players play a lot of games,\u201d he said. \u201cBut you know who plays a lot of games? Messi.\u201d<\/p>\n
(Not recently. Messi played about half as many games as Pulisic in the last year, according to the Fbref.com website.)<\/p>\n
\u201cOf course I want U.S. players to be at their best in the summer of 2026, but we can\u2019t put them in bubble-wrap until then,\u201d Lalas continued. \u201cI know I am from a different generation, and I try not be a grumpy old man. But I just can\u2019t fathom turning down the privilege of representing my country.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need all hands on deck. We can rest in 2027.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pochettino might not be buying his own words either. Because in the same news conference in which he excused Pulisic and the others, he made it clear that every spot on his World Cup roster is up for grabs. And the best way to grab one is to show up at training camp.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat we want to create in our national team is people desperate to come, but desperate to come to perform,\u201d said Pochettino who, in his eight months in charge, has been unable to rouse his players from a listless funk. \u201cTo perform means follow the rules, create a good atmosphere, be part of the team.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need to create this culture about winning and we need to chase our aim. If we want to be good in one year\u2019s time, we need to think that today is the most important day. It\u2019s not to say, \u2018OK, I wait. The World Cup is in one year. It\u2019s in six months. It\u2019s in one month.\u2019 And then it\u2019s late.\u201d <\/p>\n
The U.S. has been building for this since 2018, when FIFA awarded the World Cup to the U.S., Mexico and Canada. The roster has been carefully cultivated, players have been methodically groomed; broadcast contracts have been negotiated and sponsorships signed, all in the hopes of the U.S. making a deep run next summer.<\/p>\n
Now that the tournament on the doorstep, those plans appear to be crumbling.<\/p>\n
Could the U.S. really field a World Cup team without Pulisic, Reyna, Weah and the others? Well, it will be fielding a Gold Cup team without them. And Pochettino seems to have found a sense of urgency that was missing in the Nations League debacle.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s all a gamble. If the U.S. makes a long run in next year\u2019s World Cup, no one will remember who played in the Gold Cup. But if the U.S. is ousted early, Pulisic and the other absentees will get blamed, no matter how well they play.<\/p>\n
\u201cA home World Cup can create a legacy. We should be doing everything possible, on and off the field, to make it successful,\u201d Lalas said. \u201cThere is pressure, responsibility and opportunity, especially for a country like the U.S. Home World Cups in 1994 and 1999 fundamentally changed the landscape and trajectory of soccer in America. 2026 can have the same impact.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we mess this up, on or off the field, we only have ourselves to blame.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u26bd You have read the latest installment of On Soccer with Kevin Baxter. The weekly column takes you behind the scenes and shines a spotlight on unique stories. Listen to Baxter on this week\u2019s episode of the \u201cCorner of the Galaxy\u201d podcast<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cTo represent my country in a soccer game, there\u2019s just nothing better than that.\u201d \u2014Christian Pulisic, 2020 Never…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":135834,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5311],"tags":[8636,4094,59503,59505,1319,16636,6598,6496,59502,2956,59504,14299,12050,1017,49,978,659,59501],"class_list":{"0":"post-135833","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-united-states","8":"tag-christian-pulisic","9":"tag-country","10":"tag-gold-cup","11":"tag-grueling-schedule","12":"tag-last-week","13":"tag-last-year","14":"tag-mauricio-pochettino","15":"tag-month","16":"tag-national-team","17":"tag-player","18":"tag-soccer-game","19":"tag-summer","20":"tag-tournament","21":"tag-u-s","22":"tag-united-states","23":"tag-us","24":"tag-usa","25":"tag-world-cup-tuneup"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114579655200627463","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135833","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=135833"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135833\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/135834"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=135833"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=135833"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=135833"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}