Now that the United States’ World Cup campaign is over, let the inquest begin. Mauricio Pochettino’s team were largely excellent until it really mattered, putting in their worst performance in many years during Monday’s emphatic 4-1 defeat at the hands of Belgium. This is the fourth successive World Cup at which the USA’s run has ended in the round of 16, a point they haven’t passed since 2002.
Thus, the spotlight has been turned onto the Stars and Stripes’ biggest players, none more so than Christian Pulisic. In the biggest game of his international career to date, he may have offered his worst-ever performance in a U.S. uniform, looking like a shell of himself before being hooked on the hour mark due to injury just minutes after Hans Vanaken made it 3-1 to the Red Devils. At that point, it was pretty clear to all watching that the USA’s hopes were fading fast. So, how much blame should be attributed to Pulisic, and what should his future with the USMNT look like going forward?
Christian Pulisic’s injury-disrupted World Cup campaign
The contrast between the start of Pulisic’s World Cup campaign and how it ended could hardly be more stark. In the first half of the opening game against Paraguay, he was a key reason why the U.S. were able to race into a 3-0 first-half lead. He assisted one of Folarin Balogun’s goals, as well as completing four dribbles and creating two big chances, giving Juan Cáceres nightmares.
However, he was replaced at the break at SoFi, and while he claimed that it was merely precautionary afterward, that would not prove to be true. He sat out the win over Australia with a calf issue, though he returned for a cameo longer than half an hour against Türkiye, suggesting that all was right once again. However, his displays against Bosnia and then Belgium, especially the latter, were very unimpactful, a shadow of the player we saw starring in Los Angeles mere weeks earlier.
Thus, it is not a stretch to surmise that Pulisic was playing despite not being fully fit; why else would Pochettino replace him so early on Monday when the team needed not just one but two goals? This is a real shame for the 27-year-old, because this World Cup should have been his pinnacle, given that it is on home soil and he is at peak age. But this shouldn’t be overly surprising, given that it’s merely a continuation of a 2026 to forget for Pulisic.
Christian Pulisic’s miserable 2026 at club level
Not so long ago, one could make a credible case that Pulisic was the best player in Serie A, one of the strongest leagues in the world. He scored 17 goals and registered 12 assists in 2024-25 for A.C. Milan, before netting 10 times during the first half of this past season. However, he has not found the net for the Rossoneri since scoring against Hellas Verona at San Siro three days after Christmas, appearing 19 times in 2026 without a single goal and notching just one assist in that same span.
In his defense, Milan’s form also fell off a cliff during this period. As recently as early March, they were in the title race, but Massimiliano Allegri’s side then lost six of their final 10 matches, form that cost the team Champions League qualification and Allegri his job. New manager Rúben Amorim famously does not value wingers, selling them all during his ill-fated period at Manchester United, so who knows what ramifications that’ll have on Pulisic’s future in Italy?
Had he enjoyed an electrifying World Cup, perhaps a Champions League-level club might have come in for Pulisic. In reality, he may be stuck in Milan — which is usually not a bad place to be but might be a far from ideal fit for Captain America.
Does the US have the talent coming through?
Following the failure to qualify for the 2018 World Cup (sorry to bring up Couva at this time), the U.S. basically started from scratch with an entire new team who have come through the ranks together. Now in their mid-20s, this home World Cup was supposed to come when all these players were in their prime, making the feeble exit against Belgium even more heartbreaking.
By the time they land in Spain, Portugal or Morocco in four summers time — assuming they get there — Pulisic, Weston McKennie, Tyler Adams, Chris Richards, Antonee Robinson and Tim Weah will all be in their 30s, with Sergiño Dest just behind by virtue of his November birthday. That is not to say any of these players will be finished and incapable of contributing, but it is clear that a new group of younger players will need to have come through by then, or we’ll find ourselves in another lost generation situation.
Will that happen? Who knows. It is impossible to predict what a USMNT roster will look like in four years time. There could be some 13-year-old kid out there that no one has ever heard of who, at the Bernabéu in June 2030, has just become the most famous teenager on the planet. Moving away from fictional players, the likes of Cole Campbell, Zavier Gozo, Julian Hall, Adri Mehmeti and Cavan Sullivan are getting people excited, but who knows how any of those will develop?
The biggest thing holding the USMNT back is depth. In the five substitute era, when you’re playing do-or-die games every four days, the nations that have top quality players in reserve almost always come out on top. With respect to Seb Berhalter, Max Arfsten, Haji Wright and others, the U.S. do not have that. So, bringing it back around to Pulisic, it seems unlikely that he will not be a key figure for the United States going forward. He has 33 international goals to his name, more than Weah, Ricardo Pepi and Folarin Balogun combined, and the talent is simply not there to usurp him. Thus, whoever replaces Pochettino, if he does depart as expected, really needs Pulisic to rediscover his magic.
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