Why doesn’t Pulisic play against Mexico? 5 USMNT players leave camp

Christian Pulisic is one of five U.S. men’s national team players who will be sent back to their club ahead of Tuesday’s friendly. For fans wondering why Pulisic isn’t playing against Mexico, the USMNT star is returning to AC Milan to manage his workload.

The other four USMNT players returning to their clubs have sustained minor injuries.

Weston McKennie, Ricardo Pepi, Zack Steffen and Marlon Fossey have all left USMNT October camp.

Why doesn’t Pulisic play against Mexico?

Marlon Fossey, Weston McKennie, Ricardo Pepi, Christian Pulisic and Zack Steffen will return to their clubs in advance #USMNTThe friendly match on Tuesday in Mexico.

Ricardo Pepi will not be traveling with you @USMNT Team to Mexico today. The striker returns to Eindhoven as a precaution after being hit in the face by a ball in the last game. pic.twitter.com/if1KlBg3kP

New head coach Mauricio Pochettino is exercising caution with an already struggling US squad.

“As we have said before, we will always make decisions in the best interests of our players and respect the relationship we have with their clubs,” Pochettino said in a statement.

Two of the five players sent back to their clubs appeared in Saturday’s 2-0 friendly win over Panama, with Pulisic starting and playing around 65 minutes. Pepi came on as a substitute in the 67th minute and scored another goal in the final stages.

McKennie dressed for the game but sat on the bench for the entire 90 minutes, while Fossey and Steffen were unavailable for the friendly due to injury.

It will be interesting to see how Pochettino shuffles the squad for Tuesday’s game, as the USMNT will be without all three of their usual forwards (Pulisic, Folarin Balogun and Timothy Weah).

One fan pointed out that sending the injured players back to their clubs was a good move by Pochettino and the USMNT to gain the clubs’ trust.

Wow, I’m shocked. I can respect that though, we need to regain trust after what happened to Adams.

Tyler Adams was a prime example of a national team asking too much of an injured player, as Adams played in every Copa América game this summer, compounding his injury problems. Adams is yet to make an appearance for Bournemouth this season due to a goal-scoring problem and only made four appearances last season.

The USMNT will face Mexico on Tuesday at 10:30 p.m. ET in Guadalajara.