COLOMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Christian Purisic downplays the controversy between him and Mauricio Pockettino and says his relationship with the US coach is good.
Top American players Pulisic has decided to skip Concacaf Gold Cup To rest after two long seasons with AC Milan. He offered to play in a pair of friendly matches before the tournament. Pockettino refused because he wanted to keep one group together. Pulisic was then criticized by former American players.
Pulisic returned to the national team this month, starting with a pair of friendly matches, supporting the second goal on Tuesday night Japan will win 2-0.
“We’re having a good conversation,” Pulisic told reporters about his relationship with Pochettino. “To be honest, maybe what you guys go through and the media are watching is not what we experience. Things are good. We talked. We have normal camps and everything is good among us.
The midfielder and winger, who turned 27 on September 18th, made their national team debut in 2016, scoring 32 goals in 80 international appearances. He scored the only US goal for Trinidadon The night when Americans were not qualified for the 2018 tournament and They scored after beating Iran 1-0 at the 2022 World Cup.
“I love this team. That’s everything for me. I’ve been here for quite some time. I can see some new guys and bond with old players. “Personally, I don’t feel like the steps have been lost.”
Pulisic has not spoken to reporters since last spring.
In June, by explaining why he wouldn’t accept Purisic for a friendly match between Türkiye and Switzerland, Pockettino said: “I’m the head coach. I’m not a mannequin.”
“I think everything that happened in the summer is behind us, and I think we’re looking forward to it now,” Pockettino said last month after releasing his September roster.
“We all made mistakes for a while, because we read the situation differently.” Pockettino was added last Friday. “The most important thing is when you’re an intelligent person, if we want to move on and do the right thing, I want to be intelligent.”
Pockettino said he didn’t talk to Purisic during the summer before camping.
“Obviously, you don’t spend the day together, so the national team can be tough,” Pulisic said. “So I think we got to know each other, yeah, we started learning each other, learning teams, and yeah, we think we can help each other as much as we can move forward and try to win.
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