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The 2026 World Cup, which will be played primarily on U.S. soil, is now only about 300 days away. However, the U.S. Men's National Team is as messy as ever as current and former USMNT players continue to publicly snipe at each other on television, podcasts, and streaming docuseries. The latest generational bickering comes as current player Tim Weah fired back at USMNT alumni who criticized players like him and Christian Pulisic for skipping the 2025 Gold Cup.
“Those guys are chasing checks, and for me, I just feel like they're really evil, honestly, because they've been players, and they know what it's like when you're getting bashed,” Weah said on the most recent episode of Pulisic on Paramount+ (h/t ESPN). “Those are the same guys that will turn around and shake your hand and try to be friendly with you.”
While not explicitly named, USMNT legends like Landon Donovan and Tim Howard, who co-host the Unfiltered Soccer podcast, and Alexi Lalas, the lead FOX Sports soccer analyst, were the most prominent and vocal critics of Weah, Pulisic, and others' decision to skip the Gold Cup, the first tournament under new manager Mauricio Pochettino and the last competitive tune-up for the 2026 World Cup.
Tim Weah speaking out was more about defending Christian Pulisic than himself, though. While Pulisic cited the tiring grind of playing both professional and national team soccer as his reason for missing the tournament—where the USMNT fell to Mexico 2-1 in the final—Weah was not allowed to play as his pro club, Italy's Juventus, was participating in the FIFA Club World Cup.
The USMNT automatically qualifies for the 2026 World Cup as one of the hosts, so over the next 10 months, the squad will only have friendly matches with a qualifying tournament off the table. So, Pochettino, Weah, Pulisic, and the rest of the team will have to come together and gel without competitive matches to figure things out.
U.S. Men's team drama heading into a World Cup is nothing new.
In 1998, manager Steve Sampson feuded with his players in the lead-up to the tournament and mysteriously left former captain John Harkes off the roster. It later came out that it was due to Harkes' alleged affair with teammate Eric Wynalda's wife.
During that World Cup in France, the USMNT lost to Germany, Iran, and Yugoslavia by an aggregate score of 5-1, finishing dead last among the 32 participating teams.
