Christian Pulisic blasts criticisms from Landon Donovan, ex-USMNT players

Two U.S. Men’s National Team stars hit out at their critics who questioned them for not participating in the Gold Cup earlier this summer. 

Christian Pulisic and Timothy Weah fired back at the players-turned-media pundits during a newly released episode of the Paramount+ documentary, “Pulisic.”

The American soccer star faced criticism from the likes of Landon Donovan and other USMNT alumni for doing “the best thing for myself” and not participating in the summer Gold Cup tournament. 

In the eighth episode, which focuses on the national team’s struggles, Pulisic defended his decision with some pointed language. 

“I’d say the most annoying thing, and for me, the biggest cop-out of all time, is when, especially, you know, all pundits want to say: ‘They didn’t want it. They didn’t have the heart, you know, back in our day, we would fight and we would die on that field,’” Pulisic said.

Weah had a similar feeling when he discussed the criticism, taking it a step further. 

“Those guys are chasing checks, and for me, I just feel like they’re really evil, honestly, because they’ve been players, and they know what it’s like when you’re getting bashed,” he said. “Those are the same guys that will turn around and shake your hand and try to be friendly with you.”

“Don’t get me wrong, I respect all of them, I mean, they were the players I looked up to,” Weah added. “But quite frankly, the guys before us didn’t win anything either.”

The spat between some of the current players and the former ones took a very public turn earlier this year when Donovan said on air, “I can’t help but think about some of our guys on vacation, not wanting to play in the Gold Cup. It’s pissing me off.”

Donovan did not name any players specifically, but Pulisic’s father, Mark, fired back with a post on social media. 

The United States went on to lose to Mexico, 2-1, in the Gold Cup final.