{"id":4203,"date":"2026-05-28T22:37:29","date_gmt":"2026-05-28T22:37:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/?p=4203"},"modified":"2026-05-28T22:37:29","modified_gmt":"2026-05-28T22:37:29","slug":"hell-score-at-the-world-cup-christian-pulisics-goal-drought-doesnt-worry-usa-coach","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/?p=4203","title":{"rendered":"&#039;He&#039;ll Score At The World Cup&#039;: Christian Pulisic&#039;s Goal Drought Doesn&#039;t Worry USA Coach"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"subnav-title ff-ffc bold fs-23 lh-25 uc pd-b-10\">\n            POPULAR SEARCHES\n          <\/p>\n<p class=\"subnav-title ff-ffc bold fs-23 lh-25 uc pd-b-10\">\n            BROWSE BY\n          <\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-a2155f14><strong>FAYETTEVILLE, Ga. \u2014<\/strong> If there\u2019s one universal anxiety that fans of the United States men\u2019s national team share heading into the Americans\u2019 2026 FIFA World Cup opener against Paraguay just 15 days from Thursday, it has to be Christian Pulisic.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-a2155f14>Possibly already the greatest attacking talent the country has ever produced, Pulisic has been the USA\u2019s best player and undisputed headliner almost since he first donned a national team jersey a year ago. But ahead of what is supposed to be the biggest moment of his life \u2014 a World Cup played on home soil \u2014 Pulisic is mired in the longest scoring drought of his career. In more than 20 games for the U.S. and Italian club AC Milan in 2026, the 27-year-old hasn\u2019t scored a single goal.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-a2155f14>It\u2019s not ideal, to say the least. But while Stars and Stripes supporters are worried, U.S. coach Mauricio Pochettino isn\u2019t.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-a2155f14>&#8220;Okay, he didn&#8217;t score in the last, I don&#8217;t know, six months?&#8221; Pochettino rhetorically asked a small group of reporters on Thursday after his team trained at U.S. Soccer\u2019s sprawling new facility about 25 miles south of Atlanta.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-a2155f14>&#8220;He&#8217;s going to score in the World Cup.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-a2155f14>Pulisic and Pochettino have butted heads several times since the former Chelsea, Paris Saint-Germain and Tottenham manager took over the U.S. program. As I reported last year, Pulisic almost immediately rubbed the 54-year-old Argentine the wrong way by begging out of Pochettino&#8217;s second match at the helm. The Americans lost that match, to chief rival Mexico, 2-0 south of the border.<\/p>\n<p><span>(Photo by John Dorton\/ISI Photos\/USSF\/Getty Images)<\/span> <\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-a2155f14>Pulisic then asked to skip last summer&#8217;s Concacaf Gold Cup, citing fatigue after two grueling seasons with AC Milan. Again, the request was granted, but Pulisic created a stir when he said he &#8220;didn\u2019t understand&#8221; Pochettino\u2019s decision to leave him out of a pair of pre-Gold Cup tune-ups against European foes Switzerland and T\u00fcrkiye.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-a2155f14>&#8220;Players don&#8217;t need to understand,&#8221; Pochettino said when I asked him about his star player\u2019s comment the day before the Gold Cup opener. &#8220;Players need to listen and to stick with our plan. They cannot dictate the plan.&#8221; The U.S. reached the final without Pulisic but lost \u2014 again to El Tri \u2014 in the decisive game.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-a2155f14>&#8220;I was disappointed with him,&#8221; Pochettino said Thursday of the Gold Cup controversy. &#8220;[And] he was disappointed with our decision not to include [him] in the two friendlies.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><span>(Photo by Shaun Clark\/ISI Photos\/USSF\/Getty Images for USSF)<\/span> <!--&gt;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-a2155f14>That\u2019s all behind both of them now. Pulisic is here, and he told me on Tuesday that he\u2019s \"feeling great,\" despite the thigh strain that limited him to just 59 combined minutes over Milan\u2019s final three games. \"I\u2019m confident that good things are going to come,\" he said. \"You make a couple good plays in a tournament like this and things change fast.\"<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-a2155f14>The irony here is that sitting out the Gold Cup last summer was supposed to help Pulisic be at the height of his considerable powers going into this World Cup. For a while, it looked like perhaps it was the right decision; Pulisic had four goals and two assists in the Rossoneri\u2019s first five matches of 2025-26. At one point last fall, he was leading all of Serie A in scoring.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-a2155f14>When the calendar flipped, the goals dried up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-a2155f14>\"[It] shows that not always people really know themselves,\" Pochettino said on Thursday. \"Too many factors can affect\" a player\u2019s form.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span>(Photo by Pier Marco Tacca\/Getty Images)<\/span> --><\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-a2155f14>Now it\u2019s on the staff to help Pulisic get back to his best.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-a2155f14>&#8220;For me, it&#8217;s a special player,&#8221; Pochettino said of his No. 10.\u00a0&#8220;We are going to try in these [two] weeks\u00a0 to recover his confidence, and we really trust in him, and we have the confidence that he is going to perform.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-a2155f14>&#8220;I really trust in that,&#8221; Pochettino added. &#8220;He&#8217;s had a very good attitude, very good commitment. He&#8217;s trying so hard to get his best level. And I think he will achieve it.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>POPULAR SEARCHES BROWSE BY FAYETTEVILLE, Ga. \u2014 If there\u2019s one universal anxiety that fans of the United States men\u2019s national team share heading into the Americans\u2019 2026 FIFA World Cup opener against Paraguay just 15 days from Thursday, it has to be Christian Pulisic. Possibly already the greatest attacking talent the country has ever produced, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":4202,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4203","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-soccer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4203","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4203"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4203\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4202"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4203"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4203"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4203"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}