International breaks- a time of very little to no news, and when real news actually does break, it’s almost always bad. By that I mean the only legitimate news that typically emerges from the internationals relates to injuries.
After tonight, those concerns will be alleviated for those following Christian Pulisic and four of his USMNT mates. According to Yahoo, the five players “will return to their clubs” and “miss next Tuesday’s international friendly against Uruguay, multiple sources told Yahoo Sports.”
In addition to Pulisic returning to Chelsea, Defender John Brooks goes back to Wolfsburg, midfielder Alfredo Morales and No. 1 Zack Steffen return to Fortuna Dusseldorf.
And backup goalkeeper Sean Johnson will leave the team USA camp in New Jersey, and cross the Hudson River back to NYCFC.
U.S. Coach Gregg Berhalter wants to give these players a rest next week, and let them return refreshed to their teams at home, and abroad in Germany and England.
First of course comes the friendly tonight at Met Life Stadium in New Jersey, where the Stars and Stripes will renew the Dos a Cero rivalry with their most arch of enemies.
The exhibition match tonight (8:30 p.m. ET, FS1) is also a rematch of the Gold Cup Final in July, won be Mexico 1-0 at Soldier Field in Chicago, in front of a sold out crowd that was about 90% Mexico supporters.
As for Pulisic (who said earlier this week that he would be game for playing in the Olympics next summer) and Chelsea, they will take on Wolverhampton Wanderers on Sept 14. Two days ago, Pulisic opened up on how he believes his stint with Chelsea has gone thus far.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, the author of “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,” regularly appears on WGN CLTV and co-hosts the “Let’s Get Weird, Sports” podcast on SB Nation.
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