Audio By Carbonatix
Christian Pulisc and his father, Mark, would seemingly prefer soccer legend Landon Donovan to call him out by name on a national television broadcast instead of taking a subtle jab in his direction during a larger statement about the culture of the United States. They put up a united front on Instagram.
This feud will only continue to escalate with poor results over the next few weeks.
All of this domestic soccer drama began on Saturday when Team USA lost 2-1 to Turkey during a tune-up match prior to the Gold Cup. The United States Men’s National Team scored in the first minute and then failed to find the net over the next 90+ minutes. It was ugly. That can’t happen.
But here’s the thing.
Most of the United States’ best players are not on the 26-man roster at the moment. Antonee Robinson is rehabbing a knee injury. Weston McKennie and Tim Weah are committed to the Club World Cup. Sergiño Dest pulled out to rehab his torn ACL. Christian Pulisic isn’t playing because of fatigue.
The USMNT roster for the Concacaf Gold Cup features just four players who started in the team’s final match of the 2022 World Cup. It is not the ‘A team’ by any stretch of the imagination.
Landon Donovan teed off on Pulisic (and company) for skipping international duty. Cristiano Ronaldo continues to play for Portugal at the age 40, which is what inspired the rant.
This is what it means to represent your country. And if you don’t want to take this, as a professional soccer player and someone who gets the opportunity to wear that jersey and take it seriously and responsibly, then don’t come in.
This is what it means. He’s (Ronaldo) 40 years old, he played a long-as season, he’s tired, he was out there grinding and hurt himself in the process. And I can’t help but think about some of our guys on vacation right now not wanting to play in the Gold Cup. It’s p—— me off.
— Landon Donovan
Although Donovan did not specifically name Pulisic, it was not a secret. The former USMNT captain was referring to the latest one, who chose to take the summer off after two-straight 50-match seasons with AC Milan.
Landon Donovan is an American Hero:
— peter (@peet2) June 8, 2025
“This is what it means to represent your country.”
“…can’t help but think of some of our guys on vacation right now not wanting to play in the Gold Cup…”
🫡 #usmnt @landondonovan pic.twitter.com/7dtF8UBEFe
McKennie thought the rant was super lame but he’s moving on.
No names were named. Coming off a long season, a stressful season, obviously, some players feel a different way about it, and some players feel another way. But the comments are comments. Everyone has their own opinions, and that’s life, and that’s football.
Obviously, like I said before, none of us take for granted that we get to represent a national team because it’s one of the biggest honors that we can have in the sport of football. …
So, any chance that we get, we want to play. But obviously, if you don’t feel like your body is in the right condition, and you don’t feel like your body is in the best form or shape or whatever, to be able to do that at 100%, and you feel like you’re risking injury, then it’s better to let someone else go in that is completely 100%.
— Weston McKennie, via USA Today
Pulisic and his father are not letting it go as easily. The latter made the following post on Instagram. The former liked the post in solidarity.
The post refers to the time when Landon Donovan took a sabbatical. He stepped away from soccer (on all levels) from December 2012 to late March 2013. He cited physical and mental exhaustion.
Christian Pulisic and his dad are calling him a hypocrite. I do see the logic here, but it is a little bit like comparing apples to oranges. Donovan was more than a decade into his international career when he took his break and had won a lot more than Pulisic at that point.
I also find it strange that Mark Pulisc would prefer Donovan to call out his son by name instead of speaking on a more generic level. Would that not cause even larger flames? I feel like that would’ve been even worse. But maybe I’m wrong.
Either way, the Pulisic family has beef with Landon Donovan. And Donovan has beef with Pulisic for sitting out.