My wife has been watching me write about the USMNT lately, following my posts and articles about our players, their performances, and the future of American soccer. She saw me boasting endlessly about young prospects such as Cavan Sullivan, Julian Hall, and Mathis Albert. Eventually, she had a question for me.
“Are you betraying your boy Pulisic?”
I had to pause and think. She bought me his jerseys. We went to his games together. We screamed at the top of our lungs when he scored against Mexico, and again when he scored against Iran at the World Cup in Qatar. Those are the moments that stay with you as a soccer fan. They become part of your personal history with the game, reminders of why you invest so much emotion in a team that can make you feel ecstatic one day and leave you devastated the next.
So, no, I am not betraying Christian Pulisic. And honestly, I think the backlash towards him has gotten out of control. So I’m here to say: Lay Off Pulisic.
But I do think we need to have an honest conversation about him, about the expectations we have placed on his shoulders, and about how quickly a fan base can turn on a player it once treated as its savior.
Pulisic has become a fallen hero in American soccer. After years of being the face of the national team, he’s endured harsh criticism over his performances, questions about his commitment, and growing frustration from supporters who expected him to lead the United States to glory in the 2026 World Cup on home soil. Did we expect to win the World Cup? No, not realistically. But many of us expected a breakthrough, a deep quarterfinals run, or, the true dreamers among us, perhaps even a semifinals berth.
This home World Cup was supposed to be a defining chapter for the US Men’s National Team, and another great chapter to his story. And he started electric. Absolutely sensational against Paraguay. That World Cup opening match had US fans and pundits alike saying it was the best game the USMNT has ever produced. Even former players admitted as much.
And then he pulled his calf muscle late in that game. The calf strain limited his involvement in the rest of the Group stage. He missed the game against Australia, and Mauricio Pochettino decided not to risk him against Turkey in a game where the US had already clinched first place in the group.
Pulisic returned for the game against Bosnia, and, while not as electric as against Paraguay, his presence on the field helped free up Folarin Balogun and Malik Tillman. Even Balogun’s unfortunate red card, which led to the US having to play over half an hour with one less man, did not doom the resilient US team.
And yet, as incredible as those early matches were, it all unraveled against Belgium. That Balogun red card, and the infamous contraversy that ensued, contributed to a rather abysmal team performance against Belgium. Coach Pochettino and several players recently admitted that the brewing contraversy instantly changed the mood and atmosphere around the US locker room. The plucky underdogs who had persevered playing 10v11 for over half an hour in an elimination game had suddenly become the villains who had used political influence to gain an unfair advantage (at least that’s what many had come to believe).
Pulisic played in that match, but was subbed out after a rather ineffective 58 minutes of play. The Americans fell to Belgium with a humiliating 4-1 loss, and Pulisic left the tournament without delivering the performances many had hoped to see. It was revealed afterwards that Pulisic had suffered with microfractures in his leg.
The disappointment was real. But so was the injury. Both deserve acknowledgment. And so should the fact that they whole team failed to show up in that big moment, not just Pulisic.
The burden of being Captain America
There is a difference between expecting greatness from a player and expecting him to rescue an entire soccer program.
For years, Pulisic has carried the weight of the latter. He arrived in the national-team picture as a teenager, developed at Borussia Dortmund at 17, moved to Chelsea in a big money transfer, and became the first American to play and win a UEFA Champions League final. He subsequently joined AC Milan, one of the most storied clubs in European soccer, and established himself as a productive attacking player in Serie A.
Those are extraordinary accomplishments for an American player. Yet somehow, they have also become part of the problem.
When Pulisic succeeds, we celebrate him as the standard-bearer for American soccer. When he struggles, we scrutinize him as though every disappointing result is a colossal failure. We ask him to create chances, score goals, inspire his teammates, carry the attack, and somehow compensate for every weakness in the roster around him.
That is an unreasonable burden for any player.
Pulisic should not immune to criticism. He has had poor games. The 2026 World Cup did not meet many people’s expectations. He can be decisive, but can also disappear for stretches, and his influence can diminish when he is not physically right. Does he have shortcomings? Absolutely; every player does. But criticism should account for the circumstances, not pretend they do not exist.
At the 2026 World Cup, injuries disrupted his tournament. A calf problem affected his availability during the group stage, and a a lower-leg injury in the knockout match against Belgium ended his participation. He was unable to deliver the consistent performances he wanted, and the United States was eliminated earlier than we had hoped, and in a rather underwhelmingg fashion. There was no fighting spirit often associated with US teams. They seemed to just give up.
That is a disappointing chapter in his career. But it’s not the entirety of his career.
The record tells a different story
If we are going to judge Pulisic, we should at least judge him against the full record.
As of October 2026, he has scored 33 goals and provided 21 assists in 90 appearances for the United States. He sits fifth on the USMNT’s all-time scoring list, just one goal behind Eric Wynalda, and ranks fourth in assists. He became the fastest American to reach 50 international goal contributions. He is also tied with Landon Donovan for the most U.S. Soccer Male Player of the Year awards, with four.
Pulisic is among the most productive attacking players the United States has ever produced, and he has reached those numbers while spending much of his career competing in Europe’s top leagues.
He scored a hat trick against Panama in 2022 in World Cup qualifying. He put his body (and groin) on the line to score the lone, game-winning goal against Iran in the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. He scored a dramatic winning penalty against Mexico in the 2021 CONCACAF Nations League final. And he scored twice against Mexico in the 2023 CONCACAF Nations League semifinal, earning Man of the Match honors..
That goal against Iran in Qatar was as much of a pressure-cooker wrapped in political undertones as the 2026 match against Belgium. When the United States needed a result against Iran to advance from the group stage, it was Pulisic who threw himself into the play that produced the winning goal, colliding with the goalkeeper in the process.
I remember that goal. I remember the tension, the celebration, and the feeling that the United States had taken a meaningful step forward. My wife remembers it, too.
Those moments, those times Pulisic has stepped up and delivered for the National Team seem to be forgotten by today’s fans. Or maybe the new fans just haven’t known about it.
Or, it’s possible, we’ve been spoiled by such moments, and expected Pulisic to pull us out of a terrible match against Belgium. To deliver another piece of magic when the whole country wanted the US to succeed.
He didn’t. And the fans quickly turned on him.
That is what makes the current treatment of Pulisic so frustrating. The same player we once celebrated for delivering in the biggest moments is now sometimes discussed as though those moments never happened.
The comeback is already underway
It’s fair to say that Pulisic had a subpar 2026, for both club AND country. With his club, AC Milan, he was similarly electric in 2025, setting multiple Serie A records in the first half of the season. Then, the calendar turned, and Pulisic’s fortunes changed dramatically.
Pulisic had failed to scored for either the USMNT or Milan until earlier this month. Milan manager Amorim had been slowly reintegrating him back into the lineup.
By September, Pulisic had returned to action for Milan, providing an assist against Lazio. He scored against Lecce later that month, ending a lengthy scoring drought. And today, in an away match against Udinese, Amorim was forced to put him into the starting lineup, following injuries to multiple other attacking players.
And Pulisic delivered. In a game currently still in progress as of the writing of this article, Pulisic has scored in the 6th minute, putting Milan ahead 1-0 early in the match.
So when will we see top-form Pulisic again?
There’s really no way to know for sure, of course. He;s returned to competitive action, but being available is not the same as playing at his best. His club workload, the way his body responds to matches, and the confidence that comes with sustained minutes will all pay a factos.
I would expect the next few months to be telling.
He is 28, not 35. He is playing for a major European club, and he has proven time and time again that he can return from being counted out and discarded (as Chelsea did a couple of years ago).
So dismiss him at your own risk.
I understand why fans are frustrated. I really do. The home World Cup represented a rare opportunity, and the defeat to Belgium was painful. Pulisic did not deliver the tournament he wanted, and the United States did not advance as far as we hoped. That’s happened. It’s done. Nothing we can say or do can change it.
But there is a difference between holding a player accountable and deciding that he no longer has value to the US National Team.
Pulisic owes the team performances, professionalism, and a commitment to getting himself back to his best. The coaching staff owes him an honest assessment of what he can contribute, not a guaranteed place in the lineup. And we, as fans, owe him neither blind loyalty nor endless criticism. We just owe him a fair judgment.
I think back to my wife’s question: “Are you betraying your boy Pulisic?”
No. I want the next generation of American players to succeed. I want the United States to build a team capable of competing with the best in the world, rather than relying on one individual to make the difference.
And I want Christian Pulisic to have the opportunity to be part of that team.
His story is not finished.
And when that next goal comes, I suspect my wife and I will be screaming just as loudly as we did against Mexico and Iran.
