'I needed to switch off' - USMNT midfielder Yunus Musah explains Gold Cup absence, says weary body wouldn't allow him to 'carry on playing for that summer'

Midfielder Yunus Musah says that he was "gutted" to miss out on this summer's Gold Cup, but the made the decision to skip U.S. men's national team duty in favor of much-needed rest.

Musah was one of several notable names to miss out on this summer's tournament. AC Milan teammate Christian Pulisic also opted out to rest, setting off months of headlines and controversy. Weston McKennie, Tim Weah and Gio Reyna, meanwhile, featured at the Club World Cup, while Sergino Dest, Folarin Balogun and Antonee Robinson missed out due to injury. Joe Scally, Josh Sargent and Tanner Tessmann were among those left off the roster by the coaching staff.

The U.S., ultimately, went on to make it to the final, losing to Mexico, 2-1, in Houston to fall just short of a trophy. 

At the time of the squad announcement, USMNT boss Mauricio Pochettino said that Musah's absence was due to "personal reasons." Musah  clarified that he found himself desperately needing a reset during this final summer before the World Cup.

"Honestly, I was gutted that I couldn't go to the Gold Cup," he told ESPN. "The coaches were all disappointed that I didn't go, but ultimately I needed to make that decision for myself because I needed to switch off after a tough season. I needed that time off. Ultimately, it was to take that period off then so that I could be in good shape to be able to carry on now the whole season and be able to give my best for club and the national team."

Musah admitted it was not an easy choice.

"It was a very tough decision because people could easily say 'Everyone else is playing, why aren't you?'" he said. "But no one else is in my body, no one else is in my head. Everyone that knows me knows I am honest and a hardworking guy, but when times are like how they were, and I couldn't carry on playing for that summer, I had to take that decision for myself."

Like Pulisic, Musah has a regular role with Milan, although the midfielder hasn't featured nearly as often as his teammate. Last season, Musah played in 29 Serie A matches, starting 19 of them, totalling 1,571 league minutes.  Additionally, he played seven Champions League, two Supercoppa and a Coppa Italia match while also featuring in 12 USMNT matches in 2024.

In total, Musah, who debuted for the USMNT in 2020, has earned 47 caps for the USMNT, establishing himself as a key midfielder in the lead-up to and during the 2022 World Cup.  Now, he's setting his sights on playing a role again in 2026 in what will be a historic World Cup on home soil.

"Us as players, we go into every tournament believing we can win it," Musah said. "That's the beauty of football. We are a very talented group in a tournament where there are huge players, huge teams who are probably way more expected to win the tournament. But we've seen it time and time again where you can say the underdog goes on and does it. We go into the tournament with that belief. I think if you go into the tournament thinking you are not going to win it is quite pointless, so we will go into the tournament thinking we can do it and give our fans, ourselves, our families, the best satisfaction we can.

"I know that non-football fans, celebrities, you name it, are going to be behind the team just because we are the U.S.. They are very proud to support anyone that's from the U.S.. We are going to have so much support, we are going to feel it and it is going to drive us to do great things, I'm sure."

The USMNT will be back in action in September as they face South Korea and Japan. Before the international break, Musah and Milan will look to earn their first Serie A win on Friday against Lecce after falling, 2-1, to Cremonese in their league opener.