Retired U.S. soccer stars tear into Christian Pulisic after underwhelming World Cup
by Liam Griffin · The Washington TimesFormer members of the U.S. men’s and women’s soccer teams have levied criticism at current star Christian Pulisic this week after he pulled himself out of Monday’s 4-1 loss to Belgium in the World Cup, which eliminated the Americans.
Pulisic had already missed a group stage match due to a calf injury. He left Monday’s elimination game in the 59th minute after claiming to have twisted his knee and ankle during a play.
“It’s just frustrating to end like that, of course,” Pulisic told the Fox broadcast after the match. “But now I get time to rest.”
Pulisic failed to score a goal during this year’s World Cup, recording just two shots on target and a lone assist during his limited playing time. His post-match comments and underwhelming performance drew immediate criticism from former players like women’s star Sydney Leroux and male Hall of Famers Tim Howard and Landon Donovan.
“He rested the entire World Cup,” Leroux posted Tuesday on X.
“The facts are the facts and the reality is the reality …” Landon Donovan, who scored 57 goals for the U.S., said on his “Unfiltered Soccer” podcast. “Three of his last seven World Cup games, he’s left injured. You can call it coincidence, bad luck, whatever. He only played about half the minutes. … The reality is, he’s scored one goal since December.”
Pulisic, who plays his club soccer for Italian club AC Milan, has struggled to live up to predecessors like Donovan in national team competitions.
“He is the face of this team. He is undoubtedly its best player,” former USMNT goalkeeper Tim Howard said on “Unfiltered Soccer.” The U.S. was the last of the three World Cup hosts to be eliminated from this year’s tournament. I hope for his sake, he isn’t on social media.”
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The U.S. was the last of the three World Cup hosts to be eliminated from this year’s tournament. Canada and Mexico were eliminated earlier in the round of 16.
The World Cup continues with a quarterfinal match between France and Morocco on Thursday.
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