Donovan: “The reality is, he’s scored one goal since December, he’s not played well”
The former USMNT star hit out at Pulisic’s form at the World Cup.
Ouch. That’s not the noise I made when I found out that Christian Pulisic had a micro-fracture from a twisted knee, but the noise I made when I first heard USMNT legend Landon Donovan speak about the winger’s performance level at the World Cup.
The United States fell at the first big hurdle at the World Cup, losing to Belgium in the Round of 16. After beating teams that sounded like perfume scents to the country’s news presenters, a slightly-faded so-called ‘golden generation’ who never really lived up the hype were enough to swat them aside, crushing them like a paper cup in Seattle.
On the pitch was Christian Pulisic, whose biggest contribution was lying on the floor for so long it gave his side a breather between conceding goals. The AC Milan winger was the hope for this team, and nobody would agree more than himself on that. For months, despite going on a historically bad run for output, he kept telling us how great he felt and how he was ready to go. Then he got injured, then he got injured again, and then he went home.
And Landon Donovan, it seems, was not happy at all with how he performed.
Landon's message to Christian Pulisic:
— Unfiltered Soccer (@UnfilteredSoccr) July 8, 2026
"This is an opportunity to help and to change your life forever. One of the biggest problems - I speak to people who are at U.S. Soccer. I speak to his sponsors. I speak to his teammates. I speak to the staff and the coaches. People are fed… pic.twitter.com/CJtGuT1JI9
“He’s not played well for the National Team outside of 45 minutes vs Australia”
“Three of his last seven World Cup games he’s left injured,” he said. “You can call it coincidence, you can call it bad luck, whatever, it’s the reality. I think he only played about half the minutes in the tournament.”
“We have to go back to last summer. He took the time off from the Gold Cup so that he would be ready for this season, fit and healthy and firing on all cylinders. And the reality is, he’s scored one goal since December. He’s not played well for the National Team, not played well for Milan outside of that first 45 minutes against Australia.”
He then hit out at his lack of ability to take the game by the scruff of the neck, and even took aim at his commitment: “This was a game where you needed him to go, ‘Give me the ball, I’m gonna stick it in the back of the net, it’s 2-2, let’s go.’ And he just didn’t. And he wasn’t even close to it. And in fact, we don’t know, you know, there’s reporting that he asked to get subbed out of the game. I can’t confirm that, so I don’t know if that’s true or not... you would have had to ******* drag me off the field. And I would have punched the doctor in the face and said, ‘You’re not taking me off the field. Put whatever you need to put in me, and I’m staying on the field.’“
Christian Pulisic has been diagnosed with a microfracture and bone bruise of the tibia/fibula in his right leg suffered during the match against Belgium. U.S. Soccer and AC Milan will be collaborating on his recovery plan. pic.twitter.com/YMoOedpTxd
— U.S. Soccer Men's National Team (@USMNT) July 9, 2026
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