USMNT legends Donovan and Howard tee off on Pulisic after World Cup letdown

Seth Vertelney, USA TODAYWed, July 8, 2026 at 3:02 PM UTC

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Landon Donovan and Tim Howard did not hold back in their criticism of U.S. men's national team star Christian Pulisic, who came off injured in the second half of the team's 4-1 defeat to Belgium in the World Cup round of 16.

It was a frustrating tournament overall for Pulisic, who didn't score a goal and dealt with multiple injuries. A calf issue sidelined him for a group-stage win over Australia, then he came off in the 59th minute against Belgium on Monday, July 6, after a collision with Belgium's Youri Tielemans

Pulisic lined up a shot and accidentally kicked the leg of Tielemans. After trying to play through the injury for several minutes, Pulisic came off after Belgium's third goal.

After the game, Pulisic said he "twisted my ankle and my knee in one play."

Donovan and Howard were careful to note they didn't know the full extent of Pulisic's injury, but Donovan suggested the USMNT star may have been able to push through it.

"There's reporting that [Pulisic] asked to get subbed out of the game. I can't confirm that so I don't know if that's true," Donovan said on the Unfiltered Soccer podcast.

"But the reality is he came out of a World Cup knockout game at home with his leg still intact. I'm saying this to you, Tim, and you know because you played with me, 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,'" Donovan said.

Donovan added: "I could not believe that he didn't stay in the game. Now again, if we wake up tomorrow and he broke his leg ... whatever, totally fine."

Howard recalled moments during his long tenure with the USMNT when players "bullied" teammates into staying on the field through injury.

"There were literally moments where they would surround us as we were injured, and they'd go, 'You're not going off, are you? What's up? What's wrong?'" Howard said. "And the physios would come on, and we'd literally put a hand in the chest of the physio and go, 'Give him a minute, don't make a sub,' — so we almost like bullied [players] because sometimes you need that. The collective players [saying]: 'What do you mean you're going off? You're not going off, we need you.'"

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Howard, Donovan question Pulisic's big-game credentials

In addition to criticizing Pulisic over leaving the Belgium game, Howard and Donovan also had thoughts on the 27-year-old's credentials as a big-game player.

Donovan pointed out Pulisic scored against Iran in the 2022 World Cup, sending the U.S. through to the knockout phase, but said he hasn't seen much in the way of big moments since.

"It's more than just a trend now," he said. "When the games are easy and it's a home qualifier and it's Jamaica, yes, but in the big moments, in the big games, he just hasn't [delivered] — I'm not criticizing, I'm just saying it factually, like, he is who he is at this point."

Donovan was highly critical of Pulisic last summer when the U.S. star opted to sit out the Gold Cup. The criticism even led to a public feud between Donovan and Pulisic's father. One year later, Donovan brought up that decision again.

"This is a day of receipts," Donovan said. "He took the time off from the Gold Cup so that he would be ready for this season, and he would be fit and healthy, and firing on all cylinders. 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 Paraguay I thought he was excellent, and he was pretty good against Bosnia."

He added: "In the end, he's your best player, he's your star player, and it just didn't happen for him. ... It's just disappointing. I was waiting for a moment from him, something special, something spectacular, and it just didn't happen."

Outside of his criticism of his on-field performances, Howard also added some cryptic personal criticism of Pulisic.

"What I would say about him is when someone tells you or shows you who they are, you believe them," Howard said.

"So I think he's a nice footballer. I still think he's the best player on the team. Outside of that, you'd have to ask me very direct questions, to which I can give you very direct answers. But ultimately, he's a nice footballer."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Donovan and Howard slam USMNT star Pulisic after World Cup disappointment

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