Christian Pulisic
Bruce Arena: Christian Pulisic unlikely to be called in for any of Gold Cup
Christian Pulisic

Bruce Arena: Christian Pulisic unlikely to be called in for any of Gold Cup

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

U.S. coach Bruce Arena told SI.com that it's unlikely 18-year-old rising star Christian Pulisic will be called into the U.S. roster for any part of July's CONCACAF Gold Cup.

“I doubt it,” Arena said when asked specifically if he would call in Pulisic, who is on the 40-man Gold Cup preliminary roster, from which the 23-man final roster (and up to six replacements for the knockout rounds) can be selected.

“It's bad timing for [the Gold Cup], because the guys in Europe have gone through this long club season and now the World Cup qualifiers. They need a break. They have three weeks off, and asking them to come in for Gold Cup makes no sense. It would take three weeks to get them ready.”

When asked how many players on the Gold Cup roster will come from his best possible U.S. roster, Arena said: “Almost none. Very few. Maybe [Omar] González and [Matt] Besler. Maybe [Clint] Dempsey and [Jozy] Altidore at some point. [Darlington] Nagbe is a possibility.

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“I have to see in the next couple weeks how everyone is doing. We're pretty sure [Brad] Guzan is coming in. [Tim] Howard can come in after the group stage. So we'll have to name at least two other goalkeepers.”

The other goalkeepers named to the preliminary roster are D.C. United's Bill Hamid, Orlando City's Joe Bendik, NYCFC's Sean Johnson and FC Dallas Mexican-American Jesse Gonzalez, who would be cap-tied to the USA should he complete a one-time allegiance switch after representing Mexico on the youth level.

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