Mauricio Pochettino took charge of the USMNT for the first time this month. His first two games were the home game against Panama, who beat the USMNT in the Copa America, and an away game against Mexico.

The USMNT hadn’t played a friendly in Mexico since 2012, so this seemed exciting to fans, especially since they’ve been wanting to see the USMNT play away from home in a hostile atmosphere. 

The first game was a comfortable win in Austin against Panama. Yunus Musah scored his first ever goal for the USMNT, assisted by none other than his AC Milan teammate Christian Pulisic— who has been on fire this season.

Saturday night ended with everyone in a good mood. However, the news that came out on Sunday would bother some people.

The USMNT announced that Pulisic was departing camp for load management, while Weston McKennie, Zack Steffen, Marlon Fossey, and Ricardo Pepi were leaving with injuries. 

Kasey Keller, former USMNT goalkeeper who spent almost all of his entire career in Europe, was the first to go on a rant about Pulisic missing the Mexico friendly.

“Personally, I think they [USMNT] need to get beat by 3-0. Then, it would a wake up call that we need to take this more seriously,” Keller said on ESPNFC while previewing the game.

“Because I don’t understand this at all. There are 10 camps before the World Cup and here is your first opportunity to set the first impression, yet the whole message right now is ‘Meh. Okay. Go ahead and leave’ to players.” 

“I don’t get it. I truly, truly don’t understand it. What I want to see is an awakening. The tone being set right now is ‘Go back to your club, that’s more important anyway’.” 

“You just made this huge investment [for Pochettino]. You blew out the bank, you had to go to Wall Street to pay for it. And every message from the way the team plays and the squad selection is ‘Do we really care about this?’ That’s not what I expected.” 

“Everything is falling flat. What a wasted opportunity. It’s not like they’ve been dominating games over the last eight months. They need every game they can get to be in form before the World Cup.” 

“Basically what Pochettino is saying is clubs are more important than the national team. Not the way I would’ve started my tenure as the national team coach.” 

“I hear so many reporters talking about we needed to hire this manager and now it’s like ‘Meh, it’s okay. Go back to your club, I don’t care’. I am really questioning that decision.” 

“We keep hearing about Pochettino is coming in to set this culture and the culture is ‘I would rather be at my club. Okay fine, go ahead’.”

His rant received a mixed reaction from the USMNT fanbase. While most fans laughed it off and thought Keller was overreacting, there were some fans who were genuinely upset with Pulisic, the best player on the team, missing the game against the biggest rival.

It wasn’t quite the 3-0 loss Keller wanted, but the USMNT ended up losing 2-0 to Mexico, their first loss to them since 2019— which led to more people giving similar takes as Keller.

Alexi Lalas slammed the notion of load management, and asked why should the fans care about the USMNT if the coaches and players don’t care.

Then, more criticism came, this time from a more respected USMNT figure in Tim Howard.

“Christian Pulisic left the USMNT squad to limit his workload. Fans have every right to be frustrated at such a crucial time,” Howard wrote for his column in Daily Mail.

“Pulisic is our biggest and best player. And this was no normal USMNT camp, it marked the start of Pochettino’s reign and the countdown to the 2026 World Cup.” 

“Even if he is not playing, he should still be there to create the culture and set an example.” 

“I have been a senior player and a big personality in the locker room. I demanded a lot of people and what I found? The moments to show your gravitas tend to come off the pitch.” 

“There were times when I was injured or on the bench. I had 100-odd caps by then but I would carry the water or pick the kits up off the locker room floor.” 

“These are small gestures that carried an important message: when we’re in deep and I’m demanding something of you, it’s nothing I would not do myself.” 

“That’s what makes a good leader. That’s when you build trust and culture. Not by leaving camp, but by supporting the team with words and actions.”

“Pochettino, Pulisic, and the USA have to flex their muscles and tell Milan: This is how it’s going to go down. We need Christian— to play or just to be around.” “Many fans don’t want to see experiments or rotation against our rivals. I am normally one of them— this is a game to win.”

If these criticisms aren’t enough, Keller appeared on ESPNFC to double down on his earlier rant.

“I was texting Tab Ramos. He told me Luka Modrić is 39 and plays every game for Croatia,” Keller said. 

“Imagine a new Croatia manager comes in, his second game is away against Serbia. And Luka Modrić and the coach decide he’s not gonna go. There is absolutely no chance that would happen in a million years.” 

“It’s patronizing to the fans.” 

“I don’t know whose decision that was. If Christian [Pulisic] went to [Mauricio] Pochettino and asked for time off, that would be extremely worrying.” 

“Your captain and best player not wanting to play against your biggest rivals? That would be really worrying.” 

“It’s equally worrying that your brand new coach is more than happy to not go down to your biggest rival with your best player.” 

“If I was Pochettino and I was approached by AC Milan to not take the player for this friendly, I would tell them this— ‘We’ve got a couple of games against Jamaica coming up. And if I don’t take him down to Mexico, then I would like him to be released three days early, not play your last game, and I want him to do PR work for the Federation and work with our fitness coaches before the game against Jamaica’.” 

“Milan would tell me I’m crazy, we would never do that. Then I’d ask, why should I do that for you?”

Pulisic would then go on to show why he made the right decision to skip out on the Mexico game, which essentially is a meaningless friendly. 

In the first game back with Milan during the weekend, he was the Man of the Match and provided an assist that ended up being the game winner.

Then on Tuesday, Pulisic would put on another impressive performance in the Champions League. He scored straight from a corner kick, an Olimpico goal, and helped Milan win the match 3-1.

With this goal, he now has seven goals and three assists in 11 games this season, which is a very impressive number for any player playing at the highest level of the game.

The 26-year-old also became the first American to score 10 goals in the Champions League with that goal.

Pulisic is now a key player for Milan, and is playing his socks off. It was necessary for Pochettino and the USMNT to protect him, and letting him go back to Italy early instead of risking injuries down in Mexico was ultimately the correct decision.

At the end of the day, the USMNT need healthy Pulisic on top of his game more than anything, despite what the former players think.