On Wednesday, Mauricio Pochettino named his 25-player U.S. Men's National Team roster for the upcoming CONCACAF Nations League quarterfinal double-header against Haiti.
While this roster sees the return of the likes of Christian Pulisic, Weston McKennie, and Sergiño Dest, there were several surprise absences. Along with Ricardo Pepi, Matt Turner, and Tanner Tessmann, a major name to have been left out is AC Milan's Yunus Musah.
The 23-year-old made Pochettino's most recent camp, in which he appeared in three of their four friendlies between late September and early October. However, despite being a regular starter in midfield for Milan this season under new head coach Ruben Amorim, Musah has failed to make the cut this time around.
AC Milan's Yunus Musah missed out despite his regular role in Serie A this season -Credit:Nderim Kaceli/BSR Agency/Getty Images
Instead, Pochettino has gone for a midfield comprised of McKennie, Tyler Adams, Mathis Albert, Sebastian Berhalter, Santiago Castañeda, Adri Mehmeti, Gio Reyna, and Malik Tillman. The inclusion of 21-year-old Castañeda was a particular surprise given that he has yet to appear for the USMNT.
Reflecting on Pochettino's squad, former international Charlie Davies said on the ' Call It What You Want ' podcast, "I think the biggest surprise is Yunus Musah.
"And it's not because he played well last game [for the USMNT]. I don't think he played well last game. I think he underperformed. But when a player is starting for AC Milan and he started five of seven games post the last camp and he played 82 minutes against Inter Milan, for me, that warrants a call-up, period.
"And by the way, he is 23 years old. So this isn't like a 30-year-old grizzled vet that you say, 'You know what, this guy's stuck in his ways. He's not good for the team culture.'
"Yunus Musah is a quiet, humble person, not a disruptor. He's 23 years old and he's starting on Milan. And he's a part of the bigger games for Milan. That for me is a puzzler. That's a head scratcher.
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"So there's a lot of different ways. I don't think it's, 'I already know what he's capable of.' It's either A: 'He didn't have the right mentality or hunger considering I left him out of the World Cup. I thought he'd come back and be hungrier and show he wants to be here.'
"Or B: 'He just didn't live up to expectations and I'm gonna basically keep him out until I bring him back in later on.' I don't know [which reason]. But it just doesn't make sense to me."
Former USMNT goalkeeper Tony Meola agreed that Musah was the biggest snub this camp, although he had another suggestion for a potential motivating factor behind Pochettino's decision.
"[He] gets back into the national team, plays games with the national team, goes back to his club, does what you've asked players to do when they go back to their club, right? And it's, 'Go perform.' And he's performed for Milan, and then he doesn't get called in. So I'm hoping that he's in that box of, 'I know what Yunus can do. I like where he is right now. Let him just continue to be comfortable with Milan.'"
Musah has made 13 appearances across all competitions for Milan so far this season, including starting their recent 3-1 derby win against reigning Serie A champions Inter on Saturday.
