Christian Pulisic out for final Gold Cup tune up

The USMNT will play Venezuela in Cincinnati tomorrow afternoon, but the Queen City faithful won’t see phenom Christian Pulisic take the pitch.

You may not watch soccer, but you’ve probably heard of Christian Pulisic. No need to worry, the youngster will play in the Gold Cup, but he’ll miss the final tune-up in Cincinnati, head coach Gregg Berhalter said in his pregame press conference on Saturday.

Pulisic, who plays for the Premier League juggernaut Chelsea, revived US soccer and is expecting to take them to the next level both in the 2019 Gold Cup and in the ever-so-far-away 2022 World Cup. However, he’s just started in the camp, completing his first training session on Friday.

For now, fans will get treated with a mix of youthful, upcoming talent and experienced veterans. One of those young talents that much will be expected of is Weston McKennie. In that pregame conference, McKennie talked about the youth of the team.

“I guess it’s a good experience for many of the players including myself, and also, with the guys that have experience with it – Jozy, Michael, Christian- they all definitely help the rest of us in the right direction and get familiar with it.”

McKennie will be called upon as a leader in the team’s final friendly prior to Gold Cup competition.

With Pulisic and Michael Bradley out, McKennie will be one of the main playmakers in the final third, especially given the fact that coach Berhalter is only looking to play Jozy Altidore a portion of tomorrow’s friendly.

There were several other notes from Berhalter in his press conference that should be noted. For starters, he noted that he’s still a believer that Jozy Altidore, at full strength, is the best striker in America, claiming that as one of the reasons behind leaving the popular 19-year-old Josh Sargent off the 23-man roster.

It’s also expected that Tyler Boyd to make his first national cap for the team tomorrow after his one-time switch to the USMNT. A dual citizen with New Zealand, Boyd should help strengthen the team’s front line.

Lastly, Berhalter mentioned that this lineup and his strategy will be a better reflection of how he plans to use his players in the Gold Cup than it was against Jamaica.

Obviously, with this being a friendly, the team will get time for many appearances while likely playing lineups they aren’t accustomed to. Strategy-wise, this should reflect Berhalter’s system moving forward.

Overall, although short-handed, expect a good performance from a struggling USMNT tomorrow. Kickoff will start at 2 p.m. EST.