Arya News - Yunus Musah is back with the USMNT after an 18-month absence that included missing the 2026 World Cup and a frustrating season on loan at Atalanta.
TEMPE, Ariz. — The first U.S. camp since the World Cup has featured more than a dozen young players eager to impress coach Mauricio Pochettino during this four-game window.
Yunus Musah, in some ways, fits the profile: 23 years old, in good form with his club and hungry for international opportunity as a new four-year cycle gets rolling.
What separates Musah is that he has already played in a World Cup — four years ago in Qatar, not this summer"s jamboree across North America.
A 2022 starter for all four matches in Qatar, the midfielder is back in the mix after an 18-month absence. Though he has played 49 times for the U.S. — third-most on this roster — he is not much older than some who have debuted the last nine days.
In a camp with eight teenagers, "It gives me flashbacks of my first camp [in 2020] as well," Musah said Friday in an interview with Yahoo Sports and ESPN. "It was very similar, but I was in their shoes, so I definitely understand the excitement. I understand the position they"re in, and also it"s good to look back."
And now to look forward. In his first appearance since the CONCACAF Nations League in March 2025, Musah logged 62 minutes in the 4-1 victory over Peru on Sept. 26 in Orlando and, after sitting out the 4-2 win over Chile last Tuesday in St. Louis , he went 25 in the 3-0 rout of Mexico on Saturday in Glendale, Arizona .
The Americans will close the window against Canada on Tuesday in St. Paul.
Yunus Musah is back with the USMNT after an 18-month absence that included missing the 2026 World Cup and a frustrating season on loan at Atalanta.
(Mark Thorstenson/ISI Photos via Getty Images)
Musah is attempting to reestablish himself after disappearing from the U.S. scene — the result of skipping an official tournament in the summer of 2025 and receiving scant playing time on loan last season.
"It"s been a while, obviously, since he was in camp, and you forget how young he is still, how many World Cups he could potentially play in still," captain Tyler Adams said. "So we"re just trying to get the best out of him every single day. But he"s training really well and obviously just pushing to prove he belongs to be here."
Musah is back in the mix for a simple reason: He is playing regularly for AC Milan, the Italian giant that also employs U.S. star Christian Pulisic.
"It felt like something I deserve from the start of the season I"ve had, so I think it"s well deserved on my part," he said. "I"ve been performing really well for a big club, Milan, and I think it makes sense, and I"m happy to be back."
In Milan after a lost season on loan at Italian side Atalanta, Musah played 90 minutes in the first three Serie A matches and entered as a sub in the past two. He also played 90 in the UEFA Europa League opener, a 2-0 loss to Benfica.
After his loan ended in June, Musah said he received a message from the new Milan manager, Ruben Amorim, who said he was valued by the club.
At first, Musah was skeptical.
"That message was good, but at the same time, I didn"t read too much into it," he said. "I thought maybe [he was] just saying this, like all other managers, just to keep you there at the club."
U.S. midfielder Yunus Musah (10) shields the ball from Mexico midfielder Isaias Violante in the second half during an international friendly soccer match in Glendale, Ariz.
(AP Photo/Rick Scuteri)
As preseason progressed and Musah"s role took hold, Amorim"s words rang true. Musah was, indeed, in Milan"s plans.
"Having managers believe in me again as a player, that"s all you want, really: managers believing in you and letting you play," he said.
That has applied with Pochettino as well.
"Yunus is still young," the 54-year-old Argentine said. "He wasn"t involved in the last World Cup, but now, to see from the beginning of the season that he is performing in the way that we expect … that is why we call him again. I think it"s really open like the rest of the players" for playing time with the national team.
Musah was in good standing when Pochettino began his first term in October 2024, scoring his only international goal in the coach"s debut. He remained in the U.S. plans through the following spring before his international career came to an abrupt stop.
Neither he nor almost any teammates played well in the CONCACAF Nations League final four. Musah then decided to skip the 2025 CONCACAF Gold Cup, to recover from the club season and finally spend quality time with his infant daughter.
"The last few months were really intense and tough with the fans and the whole situation at the club," Musah said of AC Milan, which finished a dismal eighth and stumbled in the Champions League. "I just had my daughter as well, so I wanted to prioritize staying with the family — very, very important moments in the growth of my child [and a] pivotal time I didn"t want to miss out on. I wasn"t going to get a break after that. Important to switch off mentally and be back for the next season sharp."
With the Gold Cup the last competition before the 2026 World Cup, Pochettino wanted players fully committed to the cause. Musah"s absence was overshadowed by Pulisic"s decision to also withdraw from consideration. Nonetheless, it didn"t sit well with the coach.
Matters grew worse for Musah, whose loan to Atalanta in 2025-26 backfired terribly. He made 27 appearances across all competitions but started just six times and, with the World Cup nearing, went four months between starts during the second half of the season.
"Very frustrating because I believe I"m a player that"s a starter," he said. "So having me as a starter on the bench and not getting used pretty much the whole season was really tough. If I felt I didn"t have the qualities to play, then I would have put my hand up and said, "Yeah, I deserve to be on the bench." But I think I have the qualities to be a starter. So it was a kind of a season that was a waste on the bench. But at the same time, I learned so much from it. I wouldn"t necessarily say that it was a waste of a season because I learned a lot from it."
What did he learn?
Musah laughed and said, "I learned that before you go to a club, you have to do full research, for sure."
Through it all, "I learned how I managed myself during the times that I wasn"t playing. … Always still had a smile on my face," he said, citing his deep religious faith.
The writing was on the wall, though: Without regular playing time and no call-ups in a long time, the World Cup increasingly appeared out of reach.
"As the season went on, I could sense it," he said. "So yeah, it looked like it was going to be a summer holiday for me."
Though his U.S. friends were playing in the World Cup at home, Musah said he did not attend or watch. He stayed off social media. His phone was usually off.
Instead, he spent the summer with his wife and daughter, Yumna, visiting Ghana (his parents" homeland) and enjoying the beaches and street food in Zanzibar, the semi-autonomous archipelago off Tanzanian"s East African Coast.
"That"s how my summers are normally," Musah said. "I always try to disconnect."
Four years ago, the New York-born midfielder seemed certain to spend a portion of most summers with the U.S. team. But as a new cycle dawned, he was back to square one. To get back in Pochettino"s good graces, he first needed to clarify his club situation.
Amorim offered hope.
"He just transmits a lot of positivity, understanding," Musah said. "He just gives me clear ideas on how to beat the opponent. And then I go into the game with a clear head, because I know exactly what the manager is asking of me. … It gives me a lot of freedom in my mind that I"m just doing what the manager"s saying, and most of the time it works."
Musah has played in central midfield with Luka Modric, the Croatian superstar who, at 41, is "still our best player," Musah said. "He is a leader that show you how it"s done."
With his club career back on track and his U.S. absence over, Musah figures to remain in contention for future camps, such as the CONCACAF Nations League quarterfinals next month.
Those two legs will fall just short of four years since he played all but 16 minutes of the World Cup in Qatar.
"We want him to keep performing well, continue getting playing time at his club," Pochettino said, "and remain an important player."
For Musah, it"s been a national team rebirth.
"Like when I came to my first camp and I was like 17," he said, "I immediately felt part of the team."