Pochettino calls up Musah for USA duty but leaves Pulisic out – the reasons

While many internationals will leave after the Lecce game to go and represent their countries, Christian Pulisic will not.

As SportingNews report, Mauricio Pochettino has named his 28-man squad for the upcoming friendlies. The USA will play Peru, Chile, Mexico and Canada across the next two weeks in quite a hectic break.

The most notable exclusion from the list is without a doubt Pulisic, who turns 28 today. The report claims that ‘a combination of fitness and roster selection preferences’ have resulted in the Milan star not making the cut.

Admittedly, the forward suffered a hairline fracture in his leg at the World Cup and has not started a game for the Rossoneri yet, instead making do with a couple of appearances off the bench. Ruben Amorim has repeatedly stressed that he cannot be at 100% yet after so long out of action.

In addition to that, Pochettino has also opted not to call up regulars like Folarin Balogun, Tim Weah and Brenden Aaronson. He has gone more for younger players like Cavan Sullivan, Julian Hall and Justin Ellis, because he is ‘targeting the 2028 Olympics’.

More specifically, for the Olympics a certain number of U23-eligible players are needed in the squad, so Pochettino must keep an eye on that ahead of the Games in Los Angeles.

Interestingly, Yunus Musah has been summoned by the USMNT head coach as a reward for what has being quite a surprising and positive start to the season with Milan.