“In my opinion [they] disrespected me in a lot of ways, and completely forgot about what I’ve done for this national team for 10 years,” said Christian Pulisic in his Paramount+ docuseries. It was his response to the criticism that USMNT legends like Clint Dempsey, Landon Donovan, Tim Howard, and Charlie Davies sent his way after he announced his decision to skip the 2025 Gold Cup, citing fatigue as a reason. The AC Milan star’s father, Mark, a former player himself, joined him in hitting back. “These [pundits] want clicks, social media, ‘subscribe to my channels,’ ‘listen to my podcasts’ or whatever,” he said. His teammate on the national team, Timothy Weah, also called the pundits “evil”. A USWNT legend, however, is having none of it.

Ask anyone, and they will admit, Carli Lloyd is a bona fide legend. With two Olympic gold medals to her name, the former USWNT forward does know a lot about what it takes to win at the highest level and the sacrifice such triumphs demand. Naturally, with Pulisic’s absence from the 2025 CONCACAF Gold Cup creating a rift between the community members, the ex-Manchester City star had something to say as well.

On August 17, Lloyd hit X to share her opinion on the whole Christian Pulisic debacle. Sharing the comments of former USMNT goalkeeper Kasey Keller, Lloyd captioned her post with an applause, bullseye, and “100” emojis, underscoring that she doesn’t see eye-to-eye when it comes to the former Chelsea star justifying his decision to take care of his health instead of representing the country at the CONCACAF Gold Cup. So, what did Keller have to say?

“I’m not asking you to have a great game every time you step on the pitch. We know that’s impossible. All I’m asking you is to show 100% commitment everytime you step on the pitch,” said the ESPN analyst, highlighting the questionable action of the national team players during the semifinal of the Nations League. “I’m not being individually mean. I’m looking at a collective effort that did not hold a standard. You can have an off day, but you can always work hard,” Keller, without taking any names, took a subtle dig at Pulisic & Co. for their lackluster attitude in recent months.

Keller also claimed that a lot of the flak being faced by Pulisic and his band of followers was their own creation. The former Leicester and Tottenham star further said, “This is stuff that they invented. They’ve gone on social media, they’ve had docuseries, they’ve done all this.” “Now you’re complaining about getting too much attention? Then don’t and just play. Erase your social media, don’t go on podcasts or do an interview after the match. Go from there,” suggesting the Serie A striker an “old school‘ way of silencing the haters.

Maybe it’s the fact that Keller has 3 CONCACAF Gold Cup trophies to his name that Pulisic’s absence from the tournament stung him especially. Who knows! But one thing is for sure: Neither did he find Christian taking digs at the former stars like Landon Donovan, nor did the former USMNT star take Tim Weah and Pulisic’s father supporting the latter kindly.

However, Pulisic might not be the right person to go after on social media. After all, he had previously noted that he’s used to people being mean on digital platforms. He also mentioned that while the harsh online criticism does come with its own pressures, he has been able to handle things very well thanks to the help from his peers.

However, one could argue that not all of the backlash coming the striker’s way is of his own making, as Kasey suggests.

Christian Pulisic had to follow the commander’s orders, but needs to show intent

In his recently released docuseries, Christian mentions that while he did want to skip the CONCACAF to get back to full health, he also wanted to play two pre-tournament friendlies, a wish that was rejected by Mauricio Pochettino, the Argentine manager of the USMNT. “I did want to be a part of at least the two friendlies. I did speak with the coaches and I asked and I wanted to be a part of the team in whatever capacity I could. And they said no. They said they only wanted one roster and that’s the coach’s decision. I fully respect that,” Pulisic revealed his side of the story.

But during the Gold Cup, the manager wasn’t willing to waste his energy on discussing Pulisic’s absence from the locker room. Instead, he was way more interested in keeping a close eye on the opposition at the tournament. Furthermore, with soccer analysts reminding the community of how Team USA failed to qualify against Trinidad a decade ago, despite bringing back some of its biggest stars to the team, Pulisic might need to pull his socks up, because most would agree: this “Golden Generation” isn’t exactly the best one. And unfortunately, opportunities to test themselves in pressure-cooker situations ahead of the World Cup are going to be scarce.

Just before the USA’s clash against Mexico at the 2025 CONCACAF Gold Cup final, the USMNT boss noted “It’s going to be maybe the last game that we’re going to play under pressure…All the games after will be friendlies,” said the former Chelsea manager, highlighting that performances at high-stakes matches like the Gold Cup final help the team to know where it stands, especially with the World Cup looming. Considering how the USA lost the final 1-2 to Mexico despite taking an early lead, it’s clear they have a lot of work to do and very little time.

Now that the USA’s loss to Mexico at the Gold Cup looks on from the rearview mirror, do you think Christian Pulisic will return to the roster with an intent to compensate for that at next year’s FIFA tournament?