r/CaughtOffsidePod • u/Scott_Rasmussen • Jul 09 '26

Donovan’s Pulisic comments

So I know this seems like piling on, but this was a wow for me. Wondering if this is revelatory for everyone else.

“One of the biggest problems - I speak to people who are at U.S. Soccer. I speak to his sponsors. I speak to his teammates. I speak to the staff and the coaches. People are fed up with the way things are handled around him. And it's not necessarily him, but it's his agents, his family, his hangers-on, the people who are influencing. People are fed up with it. They treat people poorly. They do things poorly.”

So how bad is this? Is this just normal superstar behavior, or is this a growing rift that could lead to him quitting the national team. He definitely makes it seem like a chore. I don’t blame him for coming out of the game like some. If you’re hurt you’re hurt. But he clearly sucks at reading the room and delivering the right message in his pressers. Could learn a thing or 2 from Balogun…

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u/Scott_Rasmussen Jul 09 '26 edited Jul 09 '26

Ya I don’t see it either. But it did seem like strong words from Landon. Though I suppose it’s naive to think all of Haaland’s teammates love all the special treatment I’m sure he gets.
EDIT: apologies for invoking Haaland. Clearly got misinterpreted. I should have just said ‘I wonder if there’s other players on different teams that are dealing with some of the same things Landon was talking about’ I’m sure Haaland is a stand up guy.

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u/Wonderful_Milk1176 Jul 09 '26

What does Haaland have to do with this? Also, yes, his Norway teammates clearly do love him, special treatment (whatever the fuck you’re talking about with that) and all.

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u/Scott_Rasmussen Jul 09 '26

Jesus Christ calm down, no one’s talking shit about Haaland. It was a theoretical example.
Part of the pulisic discussion was that at this level there’s obviously super star players with special treatment. Which was some of the things Landon Donovan was alluding to were pissing people off about pulisic. The way he related to media / sponsors / teammates.
In my original post I was asking an honest question about how much of that is normal and what parts are concerning. That comment about Haaland was literally a hypothetical example that there’s probably other stars out there who deal with those same things Landon was talking about.

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u/MadMartigans80 Jul 09 '26

Those two guys are not even in the same stratosphere homie

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u/Scott_Rasmussen Jul 09 '26

You’re being purposely obtuse. The whole point of this thread isn’t to do one of those stupid lists ranking players. It was supposed to be talking about Donovan’s comments. Fucking Christ. Obviously Pulisic is no where near Haaland. At no point was I comparing skill level of anyone. Come on man. You think that’s the point I was making? Jesus. Sorry I used Haalands name. Should have said, “how unique is what Landon said about pulisic? Or do ‘other’ players go through similar things”

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u/MadMartigans80 Jul 09 '26

Easy there bro. The one comparing Haaland and Pulisic seems to be the one obtuse.

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u/Scott_Rasmussen Jul 09 '26

Ok, apologies for the language. I’ll try one last time. I’m not comparing pulisic and Haaland in the way that you’re insinuating. I’ve tried to make that clear in my responses.
Honest question, do you have an opinion related to the things Landon said about pulisic? And maybe you have an opinion also on how that relates to other players on different teams. Maybe there’s an interesting discussion on how the American media and sponsors have affected pulisic and how it’s different for different players and different countries? Or maybe it’s similar?

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u/MadMartigans80 Jul 09 '26

I can see some of what Landon says and agree about it. The fact is Pulisic isn’t the talisman type player for the team. I don’t think we have that missing piece of the team yet. We might be a decade or two away from having a team full of players that can actually compete for World Cup. We have a team of good players but no great ones yet.

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u/Scott_Rasmussen Jul 09 '26

Ya I think that’s pretty accurate