Team USA soccer legend Carli Lloyd did not bite her tongue after the American men saw their 2026 World Cup journey come to an end in decisive fashion.
“I felt like they lost the game before they even stepped out onto the pitch,” Lloyd, 43, said on Fox Sports following Team USA’s 4-1 loss to Belgium on Monday, July 6. “I’m not sure why and I don’t know the reasons. Just from the beginning. Chasing, tentative, scared, just not confident on the ball.”
Lloyd then turned her attention directly to the men’s national team’s captain.
“You wanted some of those big-time players to step up in big moments,” Lloyd said. “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.”
Pulisic, 27, did not score in the 2026 World Cup, a tournament that saw him hampered by injuries. He left Monday night’s game against Belgium in the 59th minute after twisting his right ankle on the boot of Belgian captain Youri Tielemans minutes prior.
After the game, Pulisic said his exit was “difficult for me to deal with.”
“I felt really good this summer with the guys and I thought my level was high,” Pulisic told reporters. “It’s disappointing I didn’t quite have the moments I was hoping to try to help us to get over this next step of beating a really good team. I’m disappointed with myself, of course, but I’m going to try to stay positive. I did a lot of good things and the team did as well.”
He added, “I just totally twisted my ankle and my knee in one play. I mean, whatever. I have time to rest. It’s just an unfortunate way to finish.”
Pulisic dealt with a calf injury during the group play stage, sitting out the second half of Team USA’s game against Paraguay and missing their game against Australia entirely.
“I trust in the guys no matter what and we believe to the end,” Pulisic said. “Yeah, it sucked this tournament with one earlier and then another injury now. It sucked. It was tough.”
Despite the loss, Pulisic argued there’s still plenty for the national team to build on.
“I think we put on some really good performances, for sure,” he said. “We made it through our group in quite a dominant fashion, and then we won the game against Bosnia [and Herezegovina]. We can be proud of that. But I just think we want to have higher hopes than that. We want to be able to go and compete with some of the best in the world. And we just still have that next step to climb.”
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