COLUMBUS, Ohio – Christian Pulisic downplayed the controversy between himself and Mauricio Pochettino, saying his relationship with the U.S. coach is good.
The top American player, Pulisic decided to skip the CONCACAF Gold Cup to rest after two long seasons with AC Milan. He offered to play in a pair of friendlies ahead of the tournament, which Pochettino rejected because he wanted to keep one group together. Pulisic was then criticized by some former American players.
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Pulisic returned to the national team this month and started in a pair of friendlies, assisting in the second goal in Tuesday night's 2-0 win over Japan.
“We have good conversations,” Pulisic told reporters of his relationship with Pochettino. “Honestly. Probably what you guys experience and what the media sees is a bit not exactly what we experience. Things are good. We spoke. We had a normal camp and everything is good between us, good between the team. There’s probably not as much drama as you guys think there is.”
A midfielder and winger who turns 27 on Sept. 18, Pulisic made his national team debut in 2016 and has 32 goals in 80 international appearances. He scored the lone U.S. goal at Trinidad on the night the Americans failed to qualify for the 2018 tournament and scored in the 1-0 win over Iran at the 2022 World Cup.
“I love this team. It’s everything to me. I’ve been here for quite a long time. I'm getting to see some new guys, getting to bond with some old players. Even seeing (Cristian) Roldan again, it’s so cool for me,” he said. “For me personally, I don’t feel like a step was lost.”
Pulisic had not spoken with reporters since last spring.
In explaining in June why he wouldn't accept Pulisic for the friendlies against Turkey and Switzerland, Pochettino said: “I am the head coach. I am not a mannequin.”
"I think it’s behind us, all that happened in summer, and I think now we need to look forward,” Pochettino said last month after announcing his September roster.
“We all made a mistake in some time, because we read the situation in a different way,” Pochettino added last Friday. “The most important is that when you are intelligent people, if we want to move on and do the right things — I want to be intelligent.”
Pochettino had said ahead of camp that he did not speak with Pulisic over the summer.
“Obviously, national team can be tough because you don’t spend day-to-day together,” Pulisic said. “So I think in the camps we’ve come in, got to know each other and starting to just, yeah, learn each other, learn the team, and, yeah, how we can both help each other as best we can to go forward and try to win. So, I’d say it’s good.”
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