Tyler Adams takes aim at Christian Pulisic's USMNT critics | OneFootball

USMNT and Bournemouth star Tyler Adams took aim at those who criticized Christian Pulisic over taking the summer off from national team duty.

Pulisic opted out of joining Mauricio Pochettino's squad for the 2025 Gold Cup, citing fatigue and fitness issues after a long Serie A campaign with AC Milan as the justification.

Many in the American soccer media took this as a display of waning commitment to the national team on the part of Pulisic, but Tyler Adams says Pulisic "doesn't have to earn the respect of anybody".

"I just know that this summer, while he took a step away, he didn’t anticipate that there was going to be that much noise and heat around it," Adams said in an interview with The Athletic.

"Everyone needs time in certain moments of their career or life to just say: ‘Let me take a step back, focus on myself for a second and then move forward’.

"But again, everyone wants to throw his name in the gutter because it creates a big story, or it creates noise around (the team). And that’s how big of a player he is and how important of a player he is."

The next time Mauricio Pochettino's USMNT take the pitch will be on September 6th in an international friendly with South Korea.

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