Yunus Musah still talks like a man who is going to the World Cup. With 100 days to go until the tournament kick off, 84 until Mauricio Pochettino announces his squad, and only two friendly games to play, time is not on the side of the near 50 cap veteran of the 2022 tournament. And yet, even when you ask him to imagine what the USMNT might achieve without him this summer, he can’t quite bring himself to talk in such terms.
“What they’re going to, what we’re going to achieve at the World Cup, it’s going to show the world that there’s a lot of really good American players,” he says. That sheer volume of talent has been the problem for Musah lately. The last of his caps came during the CONCACAF Nations League debacle of March 2025; since then, he has not received a call-up from Mauricio Pochettino. His absence has been unfortunately timed for him, at least. The side he last appeared in was on a rapid downwards trajectory, their manager yet to settle on a formation that suited his squad, nor to impart his playing style on the team.
Since Musah’s last cap, the USMNT bottomed out with defeats to Turkiye and Switzerland before roaring back into life, winning eight, drawing two and losing two. The likes of Sebastian Berhalter and Tanner Tessmann profile as at least offering depth behind established starters such as Tyler Adams. Meanwhile, minutes have been hard to come by for Musah, who left AC Milan for a loan spell at Atalanta in the summer. For some, these circumstances might seem intractable with the tournament so rapidly approaching. Musah is not one of those. Perhaps that is because he has such a clear sense of the qualities he could bring to Pochettino’s squad.
“I’m a midfielder that breaks lines, not just with my passing,” he says. “I love dribbling in the midfield and passing guys in there, and then I get stuck in defensively.
“I can bring my experience from the World Cup, the last World Cup, I can bring my experience from all the big matches I played in the Champions League and in my career, you know? Now that I’ve matured over the years, I feel like I’m a better place to play at World Cup as well.”
His message to Pochettino is simple. “I’m a versatile player. My career has shown that I’ve played in a lot of roles. So yeah, whatever you need me to do.”
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There were those who asked why Musah did not have the same “how can I help?” attitude last summer, when he withdrew himself from consideration for the USMNT’s Gold Cup squad, citing a need to rest in what might have otherwise been the third of four straight summers in which he played international tournaments. Given that he has not donned the Stars and Stripes since and has spent more of this season on the bench than on the pitch, it might be tempting for Musah to issue a mea culpa. You could imagine that doing so would even help his chance of getting back in the picture. Still, he remains steadfast in his conviction that what he did was for the good of his career.
“It was a no-brainer. I had to take that decision for myself. I couldn’t go to the Gold Cup and give the best for the country and for myself. Everyone’s entitled to their opinion at the end of the day, but actually, I try my best to help people understand that we’re people at the end of the day that have a very, very demanding job that we’re physically performing every three days.
“Sometimes last season, things were not going great, and everyone is really pressuring you to do better and saying maybe not so nice things, doing you down when you’re playing and stuff like that. It can get tough. As much as we try to block it out, it can get tough. After a long period, a long season of putting your body and mind through so much, I don’t think it’s wrong to take a break and reset for another new season after that, to try and actually give your best again.
“We’re also players that have been in the game and national team for a few years now. We’ve shown a commitment to club and country a lot. If we just ask one time that we need the break to physically and mentally get back to the best that we can, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that.”
These have been trying times for Musah, who began his career on such a rapid upward trajectory. Coveted by Europe’s biggest clubs when he left Arsenal at 16, the following year, he was a debutant for Valencia. Before his 18th birthday, the USMNT had won a battle with England, Italy and Ghana for his international allegiances and handed Musah a debut. On his 20th, he was a match-winner at the World Cup, starting and impressing against Iran.
This was what Musah’s career had been building towards. In the months leading up to the 2022 tournament, the World Cup trophy adorned the lock screen of his phone. He felt his whole career had been building to those weeks in Qatar, and somehow it didn’t disappoint. “I already thought the World Cup was going to be amazing, and it exceeded every expectation. Truly the best experience I’ve had in my life. When you’ve been to one, you don’t want to miss out on another.” To hear Musah describe it, the World Cup is very much Glastonbury or Coachella for elite-level footballers. No wonder he is so keen to be at this year’s festivities.
“I wonder what my mentality would have been if that wasn’t on the horizon,” he asks. “That’s the thing that’s keeping me going, keep pushing me, having that goal, that nice goal to have at the end. It’s something to always think about when you’re doing those runs that no one wants to do, or you’re sitting on the bench, and you have a training tomorrow and stuff like that.
“It pushes me. I’m not throwing in the towel. I know there’s still a few months left, and in football things turn quickly.”
For Musah to have a chance of turning things as quickly as he would like, the next step is obvious. He has to establish himself in the Atalanta side. The 23-year-old played only 55 minutes of Serie A football between his arrival in Bergamo on September 1 and mid-December, after which new head coach Rafaelle Palladino took a longer look at his US international, who featured in seven straight matches around the turn of the year. Minutes dried up again lately, but a goalscoring cameo off the bench in defeat to Sassuolo was the sort of moment that Musah had identified as a potential turning point for the season.
“I need to play more,” said Musah, who was speaking to CBS Sports prior to the weekend’s games. “And then when I play, make, make a good, good impression. Goals are really important in the game, so getting goals will be huge. When I get those chances to play, I’m like, take it with both hands, you know, and grab it and give it all because there’s not too much time left. I’m really hungry for it, I’m giving everything I’ve got.”
And if he isn’t playing, Musah is applying the same approach in training. “When you’re a regular starter, you’re playing week in, week out, you don’t get to train as much. I’m getting to train a lot. So I’m using the season to really train a lot on things that I didn’t get to train before… I’ve managed to practice a lot on my left foot, shooting on my left, shooting my right, different angles.”
“Ultimately, I’m using it as a positive. It’s making me a stronger man for sure. I’m going through this, this period as well, reflecting on, you know, having that trajectory, and then having this time of a bit of a setback. It’s good to reflect on that, knowing that you don’t want to go through this all the time.”
Those struggles might just be worth it if the season ends with Musah bound for the land of his birth. Three and a half years ago, his trajectory was so relentlessly upwards that fulfilling the dream of millions of football fans around the world could almost be treated as an inevitability. Now it is something Musah has had to fight for, an embodiment not just of his footballing journey but that of a family, whose journey has taken them from Ghana to Bergamo via London, Valencia, Milan and of course New York City.
“It would mean a huge deal for myself and for my family, for everything that we’ve sacrificed, been through to get to that moment,” he said. “It’ll be a big, big reflection and just a big moment to really enjoy that geographical journey and the journey that we’ve been through. After putting so much work in, being rewarded with a World Cup in the US, yeah, it can’t, can’t get bigger than that.”
