Team USA football coach Mauricio Pochettino has rebuffed the idea that star American player Christian Pulisic will get to choose which games he would be available to play in for the national team. Pulisic was recently excluded from the national team for both a pair of friendly games as well at the upcoming CONCACAF Gold Cup. Pulisic had reportedly informed the team that he wanted to only play in the recent games but wanted to sit out the actual CONCACAF Gold Cup tournament to rest. The footballer had tried to justify this by claiming that he had played about 120 matches over the past two years for AC Milan and the national team.
Pochettino, however, was having none of it.
“I am the head coach. I am not a mannequin,” Pochettino said sharply on Saturday, just before the team was to play at their opener against Trinidad and Tobago. USA had been handed defeats in both friendlies, losing 2-1 to Turkey and 4-0 to Switzerland.
Pulisic had meanwhile spoken up against the snub from the national team coach telling CBS Sports Golzazo he didn’t understand the decision even if he respected it.
“Players (do) not need to understand or not understand,” a belligerent Pochettino snapped back when asked about these comments. “Players need to listen and to stick with our plan. They cannot dictate the plan. Because if not, OK, we invert — we swap the position, no? That is obvious. The most important thing is that we explain why we decided not to include (him) in the two friendly games. And then if you have some problems, no, that is not my problem to understand.”
Pochettino went on: “It’s up to us after to assess, to analyze if you need rest or not need rest because we have a group of professional performance doctor and athletic coaches in the federation that can assess you. Our decision was to go with the players who wanted to play.”
Pulisic has been an integral part of the national team for the past few years, having scored 32 goals in 78 international appearances. However, Pochettino also took exception to Pulisic being labeled as the top American player.
“You say the best player. Yes, is a good player, of course, but he needs to perform,” the coach said. “If he perform(s) well, and he’s the best, it is normal he is going to have a place in the national team … But it’s not because … I want to be, I want to play, I want to do this, I want to do that.”
