Walker Zimmerman is fed up with the attitude of some of his U.S. men’s national team teammates, and he’s not afraid to say it.
Zimmerman was one of three overage players with the U.S. under-23 side at the Olympics, which ended with a thud on Friday in a 4-0 rout against Morocco in the quarterfinal.
The 31-year-old was able to play at the Olympics after he wasn’t selected for the Copa América roster, with the center back falling out of the senior team picture over the past year.
After the U.S. was bounced from the Olympics, the veteran spoke to the media about what it meant to him to represent his country. According to Zimmerman, there are too many players involved with the program who have begun to take that privilege for granted.
“I think to some degree we’ve gotten away from that and [players] feel like just because we’re whoever you are that you just can get called in — that stuff pisses me off,” Zimmerman said in quotes on ESPN.
“I think guys need to, every time they put on the jersey, I don’t care how talented you are, you want to play with pride. I think we have the characters to do it, but we don’t always do it.”
Zimmerman didn’t name any specific players, but during the latter days of Gregg Berhalter’s tenure as USMNT head coach, some fans and pundits began to question whether some players had become too comfortable with their spot on the team.
The defender, who hasn’t played for the USMNT since last summer, seems to agree.
“You need to know what it means to represent the U.S., and that’s where I think we can improve,” Zimmerman said. “I hope that that’s what we can kind of push forwards and push towards with the culture moving forward.”
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