When Christian Pulisic, captain of the national soccer team, announced last spring that he would choose rest over representing his country in the CONCACAF Gold Cup — the last major tournament before next summer’s World Cup — the blowback was fierce and frequently personal.
He played a career-high 3,650 minutes for AC Milan last season and appeared in 118 games for club and country in the previous 22 months. He needed a break, he said, to rest mind and body.
Yet the decision to take that break was attacked as selfish, egotistical and an act of betrayal.