The United States national team coach Mauricio Pochettino has revealed why he decided not to call up Christian Pulisic for their upcoming games.
Earlier in the week, the news broke that Pochettino had not named Pulisic in his squad for the friendlies against Uruguay and Paraguay that will be played over the next fortnight, and it is certainly good news for Milan as he will be able to stay and prepare for the derby.
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The former Chelsea man has been injured since the last international break having picked up a muscle problem while with the USA. This is believed to have angered the Rossoneri hierarchy, who believed that unnecessary risks were taken.
‘No right to complain’
Now, Pochettino has spoken about why he chose not to call up Pulisic this time around, amid reports of talks with CEO Giorgio Furlani. His comments were relayed by MilanNews.
“I didn’t call him up to give him a chance to recover 100% and be ready to play. It’s a matter of common sense. We never put players at risk,” he said.
“He played against Australia because he felt really good and because all the assessments of our doctors and medical staff were correct, and the player agreed with us.
“He didn’t play the first match against Ecuador because he arrived with a problem he had, once again, with his club in Italy. That’s why. We care about him. But that can happen when you play. There’s always a risk when you play.”
In addition to Pulisic, Chris Richards was also injured during the last international break and his club, Crystal Palace, also complained.
“They have no reason to complain. People say, ‘It’s a friendly,’ but no, that’s wrong. We’re not playing friendlies. We’re playing matches to prepare for the next World Cup. Otherwise, we’d only be playing against the Under-20s
“It’s something that really saddens me because I think sometimes people don’t understand, or maybe don’t think about, what it means to have the responsibility of representing a country or a national team, in this case the United States.
“I’ve worked at various clubs for over 15 years and have always respected the national team, accepting its rules. I believe the players are the most important thing. And the players know how we behave and how we respect them.
“I believe that in these situations, Milan or Palace have no right to complain. Because we care about the player. We are the first to worry about him, and we have never played a player with any doubts. Never. Never.”
This guy is a total joke. “He didn’t play the first match against Ecuador because he arrived with a problem”
you subbed him in last 15 min with problem “to prepare” for the World cup. “He played against Australia because he felt really good and because all the assessments of our doctors and medical staff were correct” yeah sure we see how correct are your staff as competent as you, why did this guy run from Europe, no decent club would hire him. Absolute clown
It’s ok, you’ll be fired next year 100% so we won’t have to listen to how re*arded you are.
This doesn’t seem to happen in other sports that have mid-season international competitions. Basketball, Baseball, maybe Hockey has some injuries, but not like Football. It seems that Football, always has a lot players going into the international break healthy, and then come out of it with multi-week injuries.
I think the biggest problem is that international football is more physical/dirty and the referees are reluctant to give cards to curb it. They don’t want to be responsible for players missing National Team games because of suspension.
Pulisic was the recipient of a cheap shot from an Australian midfielder and only a foul was called, no card.
International football focuses a lot more on the individual than the unit, hence the injuries. Due to less preparation players rely a lot more on their own technical, tactical and physical abilities. More “hero ball” than what you’d see in club football. Hence the cream of the crop rise to the top in the international game. Being a squad player isn’t enough.
Like everyone else Pochettino was hired to do a job, and feels pressure. Managing the national team in the USA ain’t easy. Most of the American population doesn’t know he exists or that the World Cup is coming. He has very little leverage and much is out of his control.
C Richards had been playing 90 mins every game for CP. So CP is talking crap. Club teams want to view every USMNT game as meaningless and none of their players should play. I call bs. These are important games to pick WC players and get the players working together.
stop complaining and crying Milan!!
cheap and with small team’s mindset