Four Days After Pochettino Left Him Out, Musah Played Left Back for Milan at Genoa — and Pulisic Took a Three-Start Scoring Run Into the Haiti Camp

Four days after Mauricio Pochettino left him off the USMNT roster, Yunus Musah spent Sunday afternoon at left back for AC Milan. Christian Pulisic, who is on that roster, scored in the 19th minute. Milan won 2-1 at Genoa's Stadio Luigi Ferraris, and the two Americans head into the international break in very different places: one carrying a three-start scoring run to the Concacaf Nations League quarterfinals against Haiti, the other plugging a hole in a depleted defense with nothing to report to.

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Milan needed a response after Thursday's home defeat to Ferencvaros in the Europa League, and both goals came from winning the ball high. In the 13th minute, Pulisic's pressure helped force the turnover, Adrien Rabiot rolled it across and Alphadjo Cisse finished for his fifth league goal and eighth of the season. Six minutes later, a mix-up between Genoa defenders Marcandalli and Vásquez handed the ball to Gonçalo Ramos, who laid it off for Pulisic to place a shot inside the post.

That was the American's fourth Serie A goal this season and his third in his last three league starts, after Udinese on Oct. 25 and the 3-1 derby win over Inter on Oct. 31. Across all competitions he has seven goals and three assists in 11 matches, and he collected Lega Serie A's man-of-the-match award at Marassi.

"We showed a reaction from the first minute. We started strong, we scored two goals. It's not easy to play here, these are three important points," Pulisic told DAZN. Asked about his form, he added: "I want to score more and more goals. I want to keep going like this."

Genoa, who had won their previous three league games, pushed hard late. Mikael Ellertsson pulled one back with a strike from distance in the 88th minute, and Mike Maignan had already needed saves on Wiafe, Østigård and Vitinha to keep it at that. Seven minutes of stoppage time passed without an equalizer.

Ruben Amorim arrived without Strahinja Pavlovic, Matteo Gabbia and Fikayo Tomori, so Musah, a midfielder by trade, started on the left side of the defense. Amorim's explanation before kickoff was brief: "The right foot on the left-hand side. Sometimes it's just about the player's characteristics and the qualities we want to have."

Italian outlet MilanNews24 gave him a 6 and noted that, apart from center back and goalkeeper, he has now played just about every role of his career. He covered ground and was disciplined without the ball, but he struggled in possession and gave away a late chance that Maignan had to save. He was replaced by Pervis Estupiñan in the 87th minute.

The timing matters. Musah had started seven of Milan's 10 league games before Sunday and appeared in three of the USMNT's four wins in the September and October window, starting two. He told Sports Illustrated before the roster came out that he was "feeling confident" about November and that "I've been playing the most consistent probably that I've played in years." Pochettino named eight midfielders, brought Weston McKennie back and gave Santiago Castañeda a first call, and he hasn't publicly explained Musah's omission. SI's reading is that midfield depth, rather than form, cost him the spot.

Sunday doesn't change that math. A 50-cap midfielder covering an injury crisis at left back is proof of versatility, not a midfield audition. But it does mean Musah keeps starting for a club five points off the top while the national team plays without him.

Pulisic was left out of the previous camp, and Pochettino didn't elaborate on why. He returns as one of Milan's most productive attackers, with 90 caps and 33 international goals. The United States opens the two-leg series against Haiti on Nov. 14 at Nu Stadium in Miami before hosting the return leg on Nov. 17 at TQL Stadium in Cincinnati, the first official competition of the 2030 World Cup cycle.

Amorim, for his part, cautioned that his forwards still do too much work far from goal. "Christian Pulisic is far from the box. Gonçalo is far from the box," he said after the match, adding that Milan are "still far from the final product" in the last third.

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Milan move to 24 points, five behind leaders Lazio, and return against Frosinone at San Siro on Nov. 22. By then Pulisic will have played two Nations League games, and Musah will have had two weeks to wonder what more a starter at Milan has to do to get back into the camp.