There’s plenty of blame to go around for Team USA’s soul-crushing 4-1 loss to the Belgians in the World Cup Round of 16 on Monday night, but U.S. striker Christian Pulisic is taking most of it.
Pulisic, 27, played 59 minutes against Belgium and had no effect on the game whatsoever. The one stat line he contributed to was that he was dispossessed of the ball 11 times during the game, far more than any other player.
The final game of the AC Milan player’s World Cup marked an end to what was basically a no-account performance for the whole of the tournament. Pulisic showed signs of life in the first half of Team USA’s first game of group play against Paraguay. But then, after getting kicked in the calf, he missed the next game and a half and contributed nothing in the two-and-a-half games after that.
When the Americans desperately needed him to show up Monday night after falling behind in the first ten minutes, Pulisic failed to generate anything offensively and ultimately asked out of the game late in the second half after kicking the back of an opponent’s leg.
U.S. soccer fans, already enraged by the team’s anti-climactic disaster of a performance after what had been a thrilling ride through the Group Stage and the Round of 32, found in Pulisic a fitting target for their anger.
“Christian Pulisic, he’s a slight player,” said FS1 host Colin Cowherd. “He’s always been fragile. He gets banged up again, and I didn’t think he played with any confidence today. He wasn’t winning his 1-on-1’s, and he kind of gave the ball up.”
The 27-year-old’s record with Team USA is spotty at best.
In 2018, the U.S. men failed to qualify for the tournament. In 2022, the team lost a hard-fought match to the Netherlands in the Round of 16. Monday night, Pulisic and his squad were humiliated by less-than-great Belgian squad at home.
The next opportunity at World Cup redemption will come in 2030, when he will be over the age of 30.