Christian Pulisic has come under a lot of fire from pundits like Landon Donovan and Alexi Lalas, along with his manager Mauricio Pochettino, for his decision to sit out this year’s CONCACAF Gold Cup. Despite all that, he remains the USMNT’s best hope.

The 26-year-old appeared on CBS’s Call It What You Want podcast, a show hosted by former USMNT players Tony Meola, Jimmy Conrad and Charlie Davies, to explain his decision to sit out the tournament.

“It sucks for me to miss out with the team,” Pulisic said. “I want to be a part of the team always. But to be honest, towards the second half and the end of the season, my body just started talking to me, and my mind. I started to think, you know, what’s going to be best for me leading into next year and going into the World Cup. Is that to play eight more games, get no rest at all, go straight into preseason, and then grind another year, and go straight into the World Cup? That’s not what I felt was best for my body.”

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