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Morning update

Morning update: Pulisic responds, Bradley gets a job, Atlanta's debacle, and more

ASN's Brian Sciaretta kicks off your Friday with thoughts on the Pulisic saga, Michael Bradley's new job, Atlanta United's woes, and the Club World Cup
BY Brian Sciaretta Posted
June 13, 2025
8:05 AM

HAPPY FRIDAY EVERYONE, and the week ends with fireworks that set the table for a busy next week. There are indeed a lot of topics: USMNT, MLS, transfers, Pulisic banter, and youth national teams.

In the coming days, we will have a full breakdown of the successful youth national team window but in the meantime, let’s start with the rest of the big news

 

Pulisic fallout continues

 

Christian Pulisic has faced a wave of criticism for asking out of this summer’s Gold Cup to rest after a long season. Some of the criticism has come from former USMNT players including Landon Donovan. This week, he responded.

“It sucks for me to miss out with the team. 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,” he said.  “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,” he added.

When looking at these matters, it’s best to simply look at history. Without even getting into Donovan’s sabbatical for mental health, the best parallel to draw is in 2005 when Claudio Reyna opted out of the Gold Cup that summer along with two World Cup qualifiers – one year out from the World Cup. Reyna was an unquestionable team leader at that time and was playing for Manchester City. Aside from the fact Reyna was already into his 30’s at that point while Pulisic was in his prime, the similarities are striking.

It’s well worth reading this article from Sky Sports at the time with quotes from then USMNT head coach Bruce Arena – who coached Reyna in college over a decade before. Here is the key from that article:




The former Rangers man feels his battered body requires a summer's rest and he will miss the Concacaf Gold Cup as a consequence.
Arena views the Gold Cup as a key tournament for his World Cup preparations and has warned Reyna that he must show his commitment if he is to make the trip to Germany.
 
"I will need to have an understanding of his desire and availability to play for us," said Arena.

Arena has named a strong 23-man squad for the Gold Cup and he believes it will hand a chance to some less established stars to stake a claim for a regular place.

"This is a great opportunity to further the continuity of our group, and to get a chance to look at players in meaningful matches," said Arena. "We have a blend of experience and some new faces, and these games will be very important in terms of formulating our roster for the rest of qualifying."

 
The U.S. team returned to the field a month after winning that Gold Cup (via a shootout win over Panama in the final) and Reyna was with them. Reyna addressed his absence and it is identical to Pulisic. Here is the article via the LA Times.


Deciding to skip a friendly against England, qualifiers against Costa Rica and Panama and the entire Gold Cup was not easy but necessary, Reyna said.
“I was looking at the big picture,” he said. “It benefits me and the team if I’m fully fit and mentally rested. I felt I needed it. I’ve never taken a break from the national team since I was 20, so it wasn’t easy at all.”

When reading the rest of that LA Times article, the team was excited to have Reyna back. One of the most excited players quoted was none other than Landon Donovan. Here is the quote from Donovan on Reyna’s return to the team following asking out from games that summer. From the same LA Times article:


“He doesn’t yell at people,” Donovan said. “He doesn’t say much. He’s just calming. Our team constantly wants to go, go, go. He’s the guy who knows when to settle it down, but he also knows when to go. You always want him on the ball because he’s going to make things happen. He’s invaluable.”

Also in that article, Arena talked about how important it was for the team to have Reyna back. There was no more public questioning of his commitment. What essentially happened with Reyna is that he opted out, the team survived, he came back with no problems, and helped the team qualify for the World Cup with ease.

Looking forward, it would be shocking if anything more was made of this come September when the team will reassemble for the first time after the Gold Cup.

On another note, CONCACAF bears some of the blame with devaluing the Gold Cup. With seemingly annual Nations League championships and two Gold Cups in a four-year cycle (all with the elimination of the Confederations Cup which gave a huge incentive for winning the Gold Cup the year following the World CUp), CONCACAF play is watered down. When you throw a 48-team World Cup that makes qualifying even easier, it’s hard to get excited about any of it.

If there was just one Gold Cup during a four-year cycle without a Nations League (or just one Nations League in that span) along with maybe a Confederations Cup on the line, criticism over Pulisic opting out would have more legs. And in such a scenario, he probably wouldn’t ask out.

Right now, the criticism over Pulisic seems like a lot of hot air that will be forgotten very quickly.

 

Michael Bradley gets a job

 

Michael Bradley was named the head coach of the New York Red Bulls II of MLS Next Pro on Thursday.  The team is off to a strong start with an 8-2-2 record. The job became available when former head coach Ibrahim Sekagya was promoted to being a first team assistant following the decision of former assistant Vedad Ibisevic to return to Europe.

This is a great opportunity for Bradley who will be in charge of helping to develop a team that has a lot of very good young American players.

“We are excited to welcome Michael (Bradley) to the club,” said Sporting Director Julian de Guzman. “He had an incredible playing career and is one of the greatest American soccer players ever. We see him as a promising coaching talent and look forward to supporting his development as he transitions to a career behind the touchline.”

Bradley has shown immediate interest in coaching following his playing career. This will be his second job after he was an assistant under his father in Norway with Stabaek.

As a former USMNT player and captain, Bradley is one of the most high-profile American players of his generation to turn to professional coaching. Landon Donovan had a brief run with San Diego in USL and Steven Cherundolo is now the coach of LAFC. Most other top players from that era who have stayed in the game have opted for jobs in front offices, broadcasting, agent firms, or youth coaching.

It will be interesting to see Bradley develop his own style and own voice in the coming years. This job with the Red Bulls II is just the first step of what could be many.  

 

Atlanta United bombs out

 

In a rare Thursday night game in MLS, New York City FC blew out Atlanta United 4-0 at Yankee Stadium. On the night, the team honored former star Taty Castellanos who now plays for Lazio. NYCFC played very well.

The bigger talking point is just how bad Atlanta United has been. A few decent performances at home have masked what has been a miserable season. On paper, this team should be good.

Following the game, head coach Ronny Delia gave a harsh statement on his team’s commitment.

"I don't see enough belief. I've talked all week, all year about togetherness and desire to win. I don't see it. This I have to take responsibility for ... You need to play 95 minutes with that discipline. In the first half, we can't do so much more, just put the ball in the net ... It's a big task now. The question is, are we believing in this?"

The answer, of course, is that the team isn’t believing in it and they haven’t believed in it all season.

The real questions is what is he or team president Garth Lagerwey going to do about it?

Deila might not keep his job much longer.  It’s one thing for a team like DC United to be bad. But this team has spent too much money to wait very long.

 

Club World Cup looms

 

The Club World Cup gets underway this weekend and no one really knows what to make of this expanded version. FIFA is doing its best to make this a big deal by throwing money at it and adding incentives.

But that can only do so much. That doesn’t make fans care and it doesn’t automatically make players care about this the way they do the Champions League.

It would be a good thing if the tournament takes off – especially for non-European teams. It is very beneficial for South American, North American, Asian, Africa, and Ocenanic clubs to feel connected to the global side of the sport when most of the money is in Europe.

Those teams are the key to making this work. If they go all out, the European teams will follow.

 

Youth National Teams playing well

 

It’s been an awful start to the month for the U.S. national team, but some good news came via the youth national teams. The U-17 team played well this window, the U-18 team won the Friendship Cup where the team defeated several quality opponents, the U-19 team also had a productive camp, and the U.S. U-20 team concluded its June camp with a win over Colombia which was the team’s final game before heading for World Cup preparations in September.

A separate article will come this weekend on the youth national teams.

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