Countless Americans have had an opinion — and mostly a harsh one — about Christian Pulisic’s performance at the 2026 FIFA men’s World Cup.
The United States men’s national team (USMNT) suffered a brutal 4-1 loss to Belgium in the Round of 16 on Monday, July 6, abruptly ending what had previously been an uplifting World Cup run. Pulisic struggled throughout, however. The 27-year-old AC Milan star was subbed out at halftime of the USMNT’s opening 4-1 win over Paraguay with a calf injury, which kept him out of the USMNT’s following 2-0 win over Australia.
Pulisic subbed on in the group-stage finale against Turkey, a loss, and returned to the starting lineup against Bosnia- Herzegovina in the Round of 32 and against Belgium. But he struggled to make an impact, and after kicking the back of Belgian Youri Tielemans’ foot, he injured his ankle and asked to be taken out in the 59th minute. He ended his second World Cup with one assist and zero goals.
On Wednesday, July 8, Pulisic reflected on it all.
“Tough to find the words,” Pulisic captioned an Instagram post. “I want to start by saying thank you to everyone who believed. The support carried us all the way through. It simply wasn’t good enough from us in the end and I wanted to deliver so much more. I still feel blessed to be a part of this team. The memories this summer will last a lifetime. It’s just the start for us and for this sport in America.”
Pulisic has been under fire since Monday not just for his underwhelming play, but also for his comments to FOX Sports’ Jenny Taft immediately after the USMNT’s World Cup exit. And it hasn’t just been fed-up fans; it is coming from multiple peers.
“I just twisted my ankle and just sprained my ankle,” Pulisic said. “It’s just frustrating to end like that, of course, but now, I get time to rest, so hopefully, it’ll be OK.”
Former USWNT star Sydney Leroux reposted the clip and wrote, “He rested the entire World Cup.”
USWNT icon and current FOX analyst Carli Lloyd posted, “You rest when your playing career is over. Period.”
Landon Donovan and Tim Howard, the greatest all-time USMNT forward and goalkeeper, respectively, also came down hard on Pulisic, but their criticisms were based on first-hand observations. It started on the July 7 episode of their “Unfiltered Soccer” podcast and continued on Wednesday’s episode.