USA Soccer Spotlight: How Will Pulisic Respond After Scoreless Outing vs. Belgium?

Mercedes-Benz Stadium (Atlanta) — Christian Pulisic wants this responsibility. The one that requires him to carry the pressure weighing on the U.S. men’s national team as it embarks on what is expected to be a historic World Cup on home soil this summer. Pulisic, 27, has been in the senior national team for 10 years. He entered as a 17-year-old “next big thing” and has morphed into the face of the program. He’s seen unprecedented success playing in Europe, and at one point this season was AC Milan’s scoring leader. But on Saturday, following Belgium’s 5-2 dismantling of the American squad in a World Cup tuneup at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Pulisic was forced to once again explain a poor performance from the U.S. “I think we played well for big stretches of the game, but it’s just fine margins,” a frustrated Pulisic told a group of reporters. “I mean, I have to be a bit more clinical and, yeah, defend. I mean, overall, it’s a tough result for us, but I don’t feel like it was a 5-2 game necessarily. So there are some things that we can definitely take positives from. But some things for sure we have to work on.” The Americans were actually the better team for most of the first half against Belgium. Weston McKennie, who has been close friends with Pulisic since their youth soccer days, scored the first goal in the 39th minute off a corner from Antonee “Jedi” Robinson to give the U.S. a 1-0 lead. Belgium quickly responded, equalizing moments before halftime. Pulisic had scoring chances early. There was a header that soared over the top of the goal in the seventh minute, and he looked dangerous when a low shot went wide in the 14th. In the 52nd minute, Tim Weah did the dirty work and beat Maxim De Cuyper deep near the right corner of the field and flicked a pass with the outside of his left foot to Pulisic near the box. Pulisic dribbled inside with excitement and speed, but couldn’t get the ball exactly where he wanted and skied his shot over the crossbar. Less than a minute later, Aston Villa midfielder Amadou Onana gave Belgium a 2-1 edge when he needed just one touch to slip a strike past U.S. goalkeeper Matt Turner. Eventually, the game got out of hand and fans found the exits before the final whistle. Pulisic doesn’t need to be reminded of the importance of finishing chances. No one is more disappointed than him when he doesn’t. He expects more from himself. He knows the U.S. will need to beat talented teams like Belgium in order to go far in the World Cup, and he will have to play a major role in that. “If we score there, we’re talking in a different way,” U.S. manager Mauricio Pochettino said after the game. “2-1 or 3-1 to us, we get the result. But sometimes you get what you want or you get things you don’t like. If you remember, the next section we concede [a goal]. “To feel the pain sometimes is good.” There is a silver lining following Saturday’s result. The squad gets right back to it with another match Tuesday vs. Portugal, a World Cup dark horse. Regardless of how that game shakes out, there’s still time for the U.S. to get things right before the tournament begins — its first match vs. Paraguay is on June 12 at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles. There have also been similar situations in the past where the U.S. hasn’t played well enough in one game and made adjustments quickly. In 2024, Colombia thrashed the team 5-1 in a friendly ahead of Copa América. A few days later, the squad regrouped and drew Brazil, 1-1, and Pulisic scored the equalizing goal. Last year, the squad was embarrassed by both Türkiye and Switzerland in friendlies before the Gold Cup, but then made a run to the tournament final. [Clash of Colors?: USA-Belgium Jersey Combo Was An Eyesore For Players] Pochettino himself has said on multiple occasions that it’s more important for the team to play its best during the World Cup and not peak in matches beforehand. He never wants to lose and has often stated he wants players to believe and dream that they can win the World Cup. He’s still in the process of whittling the player pool down to a final 26-man roster, which will be announced on May 26, so these matches are also important for him to get last looks at different player combinations. At some point, he’ll have to work on building chemistry with more specific lineups. All of that is to say, losing now is not necessarily indicative of how the team will perform this summer. Even so, Pulisic is the team’s biggest star, and it needs more from him. He has been in a scoring drought for the national team – his last goal came in 2024, and he hasn’t scored for AC Milan yet in 2026. He started his club season in fine form, scoring eight goals between August and December, but has hit a speed bump. He’s motivated to turn things around and has more to give. He’ll recover, watch film, and do everything possible to be better next time. “We have to take this on the chin,” Pulisic said. “It was a tough loss. It’s a very good team, but in a lot of ways there’s things that we can do better. “I have to improve. The team has to improve. All we can do is go push and try to get a result.”