Pulisic plays down Pochettino ‘drama’ and reiterates ‘love’ for USMNT

Christian Pulisic has downplayed the controversy between himself and Mauricio Pochettino over the summer regarding Gold Cup participation.

A bit of drama erupted in June when Pulisic decided to skip the Concacaf Gold Cup in order to rest after another long season at Milan. It was partly fuelled by Pochettino, who accused the winger of trying to ‘dictate the plan’ after he offered to play friendlies before the tournament.

Nonetheless, Pulisic picked up where he left off for the stars and stripes, earning a 9 out of 10 rating from ESPN for his role in Tuesday night’s 2-0 win over Japan. He also set up the second goal for Folarin Balogun with a lovely through ball.

‘I love this team’

After the full-time whistle, the Milan star was asked about events of the summer and how his relationship is with his national team coach, and ESPN relayed his response.

Photo by Mike Stobe/Getty Images

“We have good conversations. Honestly. Probably what you guys experience and what the media sees is a bit not exactly what we experience,” he said.

“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.

“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.”