Mauricio Pochettino looked at Christian Pulisic — 90 caps, 33 goals, the most decorated active player in U.S. Soccer history — and left him at home. Not injured. Not suspended. Just not wanted. Not right now.
The USMNT manager announced his 28-player squad for the September-October international window, which includes four friendlies against Peru, Chile, Mexico and Canada, and Pulisic's name is nowhere on it. Neither is Folarin Balogun's. Neither is Weston McKennie's. Only 13 players from the 2026 World Cup squad received a call-up. Pochettino isn't rebuilding — he's replacing.
What Pochettino actually said
The manager was measured but clear when pressed on Pulisic's absence. "Now it's a fresh start. It's a new start. Of course, all players have the door open, but now it's not what they did in the past." He could have named anyone. He chose not to. The message landed.
Pochettino's logic isn't sentiment-proof, but it's hard to argue with given the evidence. Pulisic managed just 45 minutes of meaningful impact at the World Cup, picking up two injuries and registering one goal contribution. Before the tournament, he'd gone 19 consecutive games without scoring for AC Milan stretching back into 2025 — a drought that would concern any manager of any team. The Stars and Stripes crashed out to Belgium in the round of 16. Again. Same as the previous tournaments. Something had to change.
Back at Milan this fall, Pulisic lost his starting spot. He sat unused through the opening three league matches and came off the bench in the next two. He did finally start against Lecce last week, scored in a 3-0 win, and looked sharp — but a single good game after months of marginalization doesn't restore a manager's confidence, particularly one who's already decided to look elsewhere.
Cavan Sullivan is the heir apparent
Pochettino selected 12 newcomers for the fall camp, eight of them teenagers. The one drawing the most attention is 16-year-old Cavan Sullivan, a winger from Philadelphia Union who has posted six goals and eight assists in his last eight MLS matches alone, helping the Union go unbeaten in 11 straight. Sullivan would make his senior debut younger than Pulisic did back in 2016 — a detail that isn't lost on anyone following this transition.
The USMNT's attacking odds in any future tournament market just shifted. Pulisic was the established name bettors and analysts built their assessments around. Now that calculus is genuinely open — Pochettino is telling the market, and the world, that no name is safe.
"The 28 players involved in these four games are the best players, or the players we want to see," Pochettino said. Simple as that.
