'Prioritizing your national team' - Landon Donovan says Christian Pulisic taking criticism 'personally' and that controversy over skipping Gold Cup won't just fade away

Christian Pulisic's controversial decision to skip the Gold Cup - and the subsquent back-and-forth over his public comments about offering to play in a pair of USMNT friendlies, and coach Maurico Pochettino's terse response - has swirled over the national team in recent days and weeks.

Former national team star Landon Donovan said that the controversy will not simply fade away, even as the USMNT opened the Gold Cup with a 5-0 victory over Trinidad and Tobago and prepare to play Saudi Arabia.

“One thing he said - and I’m paraphrasing this - ‘I know that when I come back and score, people will forget about all of this,' " Donovan said on his Unfiltered Soccer podcast with Tim Howard, referring to Pulisic. "I thought in my head - and this was backed up by Pochettino at the time - 'I think you’re missing the point. The point is not about you coming back and scoring, the point is you prioritizing your national team, being a part of your national team and wanting to win.'

"Forget about scoring - nobody cares if you score, we want this team to not suffer. Then Pochettino backed it up in his press conference. He said a million times, ‘It’s about we, it’s not about I. It’s about the team.' He kept saying it over and over. [Pulisic] is obviously taking it personally, and I understand why he is. But that’s not the point."

Howard, the former Everton goalkeeper, said that he hopes the other players are supporting each other, and believes that the USMNT can have success in the Gold Cup group stage.

“Tyler Adams talked about the outside noise not filtering in - the outside noise is absolutely filtering in to that dressing room,” Howard said. “And what I like about this result is - or my hope is - this team is rallying around each other on the inside. 'Forget those guys who talk on the microphones, forget those guys who aren’t here, this is us. This is this group and this is our time, and this is all we’ve got.'

“So my hope is they went out and did the business, got the goals - because goals were there - kept a clean sheet, they kept it really tight. But I’m imagining very similar results against Saudi Arabia and Haiti. I don’t buy into the concept that these teams are that much better, I don’t. But they’re handling business."

The USMNT beat Trinidad and Tobago, with Malik Tilmann scoring a brace. The win puts Pochettino’s side at the top of Group D despite Saudi Arabia beating Haiti 1-0.

The US Men’s national team will face Saudi Arabia in their next game in the Gold Cup group stages on Thursday in Austin, Texas.