Weston McKennie defended his U.S. Men’s National Team teammate Christian Pulisic in a new interview after American soccer great Landon Donovan indirectly criticized Pulisic on Fox Sports over the weekend.
Pulisic, along with Yunus Musah and Antonee Robinson, is not part of the U.S. roster for the Gold Cup this summer after asking head coach Mauricio Pochettino to leave him off after taking part in a long 50-game schedule for his club team, AC Milan.
Donovan hinted at his displeasure over the decision, without mentioning names, during Fox’s UEFA Nations League final broadcast, at one point saying, “I can’t help but think about our guys on vacation not wanting to play in the Gold Cup. It’s pissing me off.”
McKennie would speak up on Pulisic’s behalf.
“Obviously, none of us take for granted playing for the national team. None of us want to lose games,” McKennie told USA Today. “All of us want to compete. And for me, it’s a little bit, I won’t say sad, but as a former national team player, I think as a national team player pool — previous, present — I think it’s more about trying to build or even say something like that to a person directly rather than putting it out there.
“That’s just my opinion because we’ve all been through those moments, even when comments about us losing the Nations League were made by many players from before, but they’ve had the same thing on a bigger stage with not qualifying for the World Cup.”
Pulisic has seen some criticism from several USMNT alums, including Clint Dempsey and Alexi Lalas.
The U.S. Men’s National Team has faced growing scrutiny with the World Cup just over a year away and the United States set to host, alongside Mexico and Canada.
McKennie, who won’t be playing in the Gold Cup for the United States either as he suits up for Juventus in the Club World Cup, reiterated the honor that playing for the U.S. is, while noting the importance of not pushing yourself if you’re not 100 percent.
“Obviously, if you don’t feel like your body is in the right condition, and you don’t feel like your body is in the best form or shape or whatever, to be able to do that at 100 percent, and you feel like you’re risking injury, then it’s better to let someone else go in that is completely 100 percent,” he said.
The American soccer star wasn’t the only one to defend Pulisic, with his father, Mark, taking a swipe at Donovan in an Instagram post on Monday.
Mark posted on his account a screenshot from ChatGPT asking it to “tell me about Landon Donovan’s sabbatical and why he took it.”
The screenshot also showed the lengthy response, and Mark took a further shot at Donovan in the caption.
“This guy is … talking about commitment,” the caption read. “Look in the mirror + grow a pair and call names out or are you afraid next time you want an interview you will get rejected again.”
Pulisic also liked the post.
Donovan had stepped away from soccer in 2012-13, skipping World Cup qualifiers, and he was later left off the 2014 U.S. World Cup roster.