United States Men’s National Team superstar Christian Pulisic entered the 2026 FIFA World Cup with high expectations as the face of arguably the most talented USMNT squad in World Cup history. Unfortunately, his performance did not live up to the hype.
Between missing a significant amount of time due to injuries and an uninspiring performance in the team’s biggest and most difficult performance of the tournament, Pulisic is receiving a heavy dose of criticism.
A Lackluster Tournament
Pulisic is the biggest American soccer star and was the face of the team entering the World Cup. Unfortunately, he had trouble staying healthy and had his worst game of the tournament in the team’s biggest match.
The USMNT star left early in the team’s first match against Paraguay as a result of a leg injury, then missed the second match against Australia entirely with that same injury. Pulisic returned to the lineup briefly as a late-game substitute against Turkey and then played most of the match against Bosnia and Herzegovina before he was subbed out at the end of the match.
On Monday night, in perhaps the most important match of his USMNT career, Pulisic had perhaps the worst performance of his international career. According to ESPN, Pulisic lost the ball 16 times in just 59 minutes of action, which is far above his career average.
Pulisic also had to be subbed out of the match midway through the second half as a result of a leg injury, marking yet another match where he was unable to remain healthy and available.
It was a disappointing tournament for the team’s most high-profile player on the biggest stage.
Criticism Mounts
After such a disappointing showing, Pulisic faced some heavy criticism after the 4-1 loss.
“You wanted some of those big-time players to step up in big moments,” USWNT legend Carli Lloyd said after the loss. “And I gotta be honest, I was a bit disappointed with Christian Pulisic. Whether he wants to be the star of the team or not, we didn’t see enough from him in this particular game, and really the whole World Cup.”
“Pulisic skipped the Gold Cup—much to the dismay of many current & former teammates & his coach—to be ‘best ready’ for the World Cup. He then went 6 months without scoring before the World Cup & then in the 5 games of the World Cup he missed one & left two early with injury,” longtime sports analyst Nick Wright wrote in a post on X. “To be clear, there were a TON of reasons the @USMNT lost today—primarily that Belgium was way better in all facets. But to have the man who is supposed to be the greatest player in the history of our country simply no-show in the biggest tournament of his life is just awful.”
“This has been the World Cup of stars carrying their teams. Our alleged star got kicked in the calf, missed a game and a half, made almost zero impact outside of the first half of the first game, and then begged out in the biggest game of his career. So utterly disappointing,” Wright added in a follow-up post.
“Pulisic couldn’t have had a worse match. Terrible touches, turnovers, then gets hurt kicking a dude’s foot instead of the ball annnnnd he’s out. Total bed [expletive]. At least he’s cashing in with like 10 different commercials right now. I never want to see his face again,” prominent sportswriter Ross Bolen wrote.
“Pulisic has left injured in 3 of the 7 World Cup games he’s started,” wrote Kyle Bonagura of ESPN in a post on X.
“USMNT needs to have an honest conversation, several,” longtime sports analyst Josina Anderson wrote in a post on X.
“Horrific,” wrote JoezMcfly of Jomboy Media on X.
“Feels like an incredible psyop to be told that this guy is good and then only watch what he does for the U.S. team every four years,” wrote longtime sports analyst Bobby Wagner on X.
“Yea man, I can never have him ahead of Dempsey and Landon… ever,” the USMNT YouTube fan account Tactical Manager wrote in a post on X.
Unfortunately, Pulisic will now have to wait four more years for another chance to shine at the World Cup.
About Dave Kelsey
Contributing author to The Comeback.