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<ul><li>Howard says Pochettino should have taken stronger stance</li><li>Donovan suggests there was a viable compromise</li><li>Both place blame on federation leadership</li></ul><script type="application/json" data-placement="fcplayer-semantic">{"type":"fcplayer-semantic","data":{"embedCode":"//cdn.fcp.codes/embed-code-template/embed-code-template.js#SEMANTIC_5704afb8-c10b-4ba5-9cb4-d7fb6098ef90"}}</script>

'Mauricio Pochettino was forced into a decision' - Tim Howard, Landon Donovan call out Christian Pulisic's Gold Cup absence, question U.S. Soccer's roster approach

Friendlies

Switzerland

This USMNT’s pre-Gold Cup roster was announced last week, with Christian Pulisic and Antonee Robinson among the major stars not on the squad.Pulisic requested to take the summer off, with U.S. Soccer saying, “Christian and his team approached the Federation and the coaching staff about the possibility of stepping back this summer, given the amount of matches he has played in the past two years at both the club and international level with very little break."Former USMNT stars Tim Howard and Landon Donovan voiced concerns about U.S. Soccer and Mauricio Pochettino's approach to roster selection for the summer tournament.“Mauricio Pochettino was forced into a decision, OK?” Donovan said on his Unfiltered Soccer podcast with Howard. “When your best player calls you and says ‘I don’t want to come in this summer’ what are you supposed to do? So, your options are; ‘I don’t care, I don’t care how your feeling, you’re coming in!’ - and now your best player is pissed off at you. And oh, by the way, what happens when your best player gets hurt?"Now he’s blaming you and we’re all blaming him or he has to do what he decided to do which is ‘Ok, I’m going to leave you off and risk our team not doing as well, and risk not having you here.’ And he had to do that with multiple players - so multiple players ended up tying his hands and it just makes it difficult for him, it makes it really difficult for him. What is he supposed to do?"Howard said the absences mean Pochettino won’t be able to fully evaluate his full squad ahead of the 2026 World Cup. The former Everton and Manchester United star said that there should have been a plan to prioritize the Gold Cup.“My hope would be that there was this plan in place that says, 'This is last chance saloon, to get all of my guys together to see what I have.' By the way, you talk about evaluating, when the Gold Cup ends, Mauricio Pochettino will not know - I’m going on record as fact - he will not know what his best team is made of in the most difficult moments. Think about that for a second. So my thing is, there had to have been a plan in place that says ‘We are prioritizing the Gold Cup, we’re going to win the Gold Cup’."You and I, Landon, have been in rooms with managers on the USMNT that have said to us this exact thing, ‘Listen boys, we’re going to play this tournament exactly how we’re going to play next year’s World Cup.’ You and I have heard this, Landon: ‘We’re going to mimic what the World Cup’s going to look like so we have an idea of what that looks like next year.' Mauricio Pochettino does not have that, so I’m saying this needed to be a priority."Howard said the U.S. manager should have overruled absentee requests from players other than those who are injured or have Club World Cup commitments.“You ask what is he supposed to do because a player has tied his hands? [Pochettino) is bigger than U.S. Soccer - he makes it a priority and if the manager says ‘Look guys, this is how it’s going to be’ they’re not going to throw the toys out of the pram. And if they do, they’re going to miss the World Cup. And they’re not going to do that, so they’re going to fall into line."

WHAT HAPPENED

Donovan said a compromise could have been reached regarding games and playing time.“You could not even come in for the friendlies, and start by not playing your last two club games," he said. "So now you’ve had rest since mid-May all the way through first week of June, we’re going to get you moving, running and all a little bit on your own. You’re not even coming in with the group, and we’ll see you on June 10, four days ahead of the first game.“You’re not playing in the first two games, period. If, by some reason, we need you for the third game, which we shouldn’t, we might suit a few of you up, put you on the bench and get you going. Then you’re going to play in the knockout stages... That’s another compromise that could have been made.”Howard called out the federation for not talking to European clubs in advance, requesting that they make certain players available.“I’m not putting the blame necessarily on Mauricio Pochettino,” Howard said. “What I’m saying is all of these conversations needed to be had with the global sporting directors at these clubs. So I’m putting a ton of this on U.S. Soccer, as there needed to be people on planes and restaurants in Milan, restaurants in London, saying ‘Listen, I understand you have priorities, let me tell you about my priorities. The Gold Cup in 2025 is my priority.’“'I need to have my best team, I need to give the manager that I’m paying $6M dollars to - or rather I have an obligation - to get him his best team on the field. Now that may not mean anything to you, but it means the world to me, and that’s more important. So how do we figure this out?’ That’s dialogue, and I don’t necessarily know that that dialogue has been had with sporting directors.” <iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="362" src="https://youtube.com/embed/60rVOdM50z8" title="YouTube video player" width="644"></iframe>

WHAT LANDON DONOVAN SAID

The criticism from two former USMNT players comes at a key juncture for the USMNT program, with the 2026 World Cup on home soil now just one year away.

THE BIGGER PICTURE

Before the Gold Cup, the USMNT will play friendlies against Turkey and Switzerland on June 7 and 10, respectively.

WHAT’S NEXT?

'Mauricio Pochettino was forced into a decision' - Tim Howard, Landon Donovan call out Christian Pulisic's Gold Cup absence, question U.S. Soccer's roster approach | Goal.com

The former USMNT stars criticized the USMNT Gold Cup roster, suggest Pochettino &apos;hands were tied&apos;

&apos;Mauricio Pochettino was forced into a decision&apos; - Tim Howard, Landon Donovan call out Christian Pulisic&apos;s Gold Cup absence, question U.S. Soccer&apos;s roster approach

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