Yahoo Sports contributors Christian Polanco and Alexis Guerreros discuss Christian Pulisic leaving USMNT camp early to join Milan and the impact it had in the 2-0 loss the USMNT suffered against Mexico. Hear the full conversation on the “The Cooligans” podcast - and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen.

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Tim Howard.

He wrote a piece and he wrote one about Christian Pul and he said, Christian Pulse left the US MNT squad to limit his workload.

Fans have every right to be frustrated at such a crucial time.

Pulse is our biggest and best player and this was no normal US MNT camp.

It marked the start of Poche's and the countdown to the 2026 World Cup.

Even if he's not playing, he should still be there to create the culture and set an example.

I've been a senior player and a big personality in the locker room.

I demanded a lot of people and what I found the moment to show your gravitas tend to come off the pitch.

If you're the leader, you should probably be here.

But also Christian Pulisic ain't the type of leader that Tim Howard was the rest of the players on Milan for the most part, don't have the travel that Christian Pilic has.

He, he has to cross the Atlantic, go to Mexico that's really rough on your body and then to get back in the, in the playing form for the weekend where the this weekend club football is back.

It kind of makes sense to go back and I get it because it's a rival and it's the first game in Mexico and like, forever, apparently we haven't played a game in Mexico in years.

This is the best Christian Poli's ever been in his career.

This is the most trusted.

He's been at any club in his career.

He's in the top form.

He might be the most informed player in the serie A right now for him to go back.

I'd rather that continue that trend continue and you know, miss a rivalry match against a Mexico that at the end of the day is a friendly.

We also have to accept that we are already in the World Cup.

So we have to figure out what, what, what do we want to prioritize the health of our players, the minutes that they get the experience, do we want them to play in really difficult matches where they could get injured?

I think that is also a little bit of a negative because like, how are we gonna have this sort of cutthroat mentality when we are already in the World Cup?

And we don't really, so we have to find ways to create environments and moments that will grow the players kind of like experience and mentality to be prepared for that moment.

They probably just should have gone for the sake of at least like being around Pitino more, not even us, y'all think being around Pitino more.

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