There has been a lot of chatter about Christian Pulisic and whether he pulled himself out of the United States' loss to Belgium on Monday night.
Pulisic entered the 2026 World Cup with a ton of hype. Unfortunately, he failed to score a single goal for the U.S. men's national team. And if that's not bad enough, he was ripped to shreds by former American soccer stars Landon Donovan and Carli Lloyd.
“I’m starting to look back and … it’s more than just a trend now. It is,” Donovan said, via Awful Announcing. “Like, when the games are easy, and it’s a home qualifier, and it’s Jamaica, yes. But in the big moments and the big games, he just hasn’t. … I’m just saying it factually. He is who he is at this point.”
Lloyd, on the other hand, had this to say about Pulisic: "I gotta be honest, I was a bit disappointed with Christian Pulisic. Whether he wants to be the star of this team or not, we didn’t see enough from him in this particular game and, really, the whole World Cup. Little glimpses here or there."
© Kiyoshi Mio-Imagn Images
Well, it turns out Pulisic suffered a pretty serious injury on the pitch.
According to The Athletic, Pulisic has been diagnosed with a bone bruise and microfracture in his leg. The 27-year-old star will be sidelined several weeks.
"Pulisic appeared to sustain the injury in the 52nd minute of the U.S. men's national team's 4-1 defeat, when he wound up to take a shot at the edge of the penalty box but instead kicked the back of Belgian midfielder Youri Tielemans' calf," The Athletic reported.
Pulisic breaks his silence.
On Wednesday night, Pulisic released a statement on the USMNT's embarrassing World Cup exit.
"Tough to find the words. 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," Pulisic wrote. "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 not addressed any of the criticism regarding his performance or his injury.
