Skip to content
You can now search across every topic, entity and event.What's new
2026 FIFA World Cup
29MAR

Pulisic's goal drought hits seven games

1 min read
14:01UTC

The USMNT captain has not scored for club or country since December. His manager says he is happy with him. His club manager disagrees.

← Back to USA beaten 5-2 at World Cup host venueJump to analysis ↓
SportAssessed
Key takeaway

Pulisic has not scored for club or country in three months, turning a form dip into a genuine selection concern.

Christian Pulisic squandered multiple chances against Belgium on Friday, extending his international goal drought to seven USMNT appearances stretching back to November 2024. 1 At club level the picture is no better: his last AC Milan goal came on 28 December 2025 against Hellas Verona. He has played 11 of his last 12 Milan matches without a goal or an assist. 2

Milan manager Massimiliano Allegri has publicly expressed concern about international duty straining Pulisic's fitness. 3 Pochettino, by contrast, says he is "happy" with his captain. The gap between those two assessments is where the real selection debate lives. Pulisic remains the only Serie A player since 2023-24 with 31+ goals and 20+ assists combined. Form is temporary. But three months without scoring is not a blip; it is a pattern, and it has arrived at exactly the wrong moment for the squad Pochettino named just days earlier .

Deep Analysis

In plain English

Christian Pulisic is America's best footballer and captain of the national team. He has not scored in his last seven games for the USA (since November 2024) and has gone three months without scoring for his club, AC Milan, either. For a player expected to be the USA's main goal threat at a home World Cup, this run of form at the worst possible time is a significant concern. His managers at club and country are giving contradictory signals: the club manager is worried; the national team manager says he is 'happy.'

Deep Analysis
Root Causes

Pulisic's positional role at AC Milan has shifted under Allegri, who uses him wider and with fewer touches in central areas. This restricts the penalty-box arrivals that produced his 2023-24 output. The USMNT uses him differently again, creating a player who is adapting to two contradictory role definitions simultaneously.

The structural tension between club and country scheduling is acute at this stage of the season. European clubs prioritise league form; national teams demand peak fitness precisely when club managers want load management.

Sources:ESPN·World Soccer Talk
Mentions:Belgium →Christian Pulisic →Mauricio Pochettino →
First Reported In

Update #3 · USA beaten 5-2 at World Cup host venue

ESPN· 29 Mar 2026
Read original →
Causes and effects
Caused by
Pochettino names 27 for last Cup window
Pochettino's squad selection included Pulisic as captain despite the ongoing goal drought, making the Belgium match the next visible evidence of the form crisis.
Occurred 23 Mar 2026
Read story →
This Event
Pulisic's goal drought hits seven games
The USMNT captain's three-month scoring drought across club and country raises the defining selection question of the host nation's World Cup preparation.
Different Perspectives
Spain
Spain
Spain face France on Tuesday for the second semi-final place, the last unresolved tie in the bracket.
France
France
France already through to the other semi-final, await Tuesday's result against Spain to know who plays the England-Argentina winner in the final.
Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland reached their first World Cup quarter-final since 1954 and led Argentina before Breel Embolo's second yellow card left them a man down for the last half-hour. They expect the run to raise expectations for the next cycle rather than close a chapter.
Norway
Norway
Norway leaned on Erling Haaland to reach a first modern-era quarter-final, and he nearly took them further before a disallowed goal and England's late double ended the run. Their tournament closes as the best World Cup performance in the country's history.
Argentina national team
Argentina national team
Argentina broke down a 10-man Switzerland late, extending Scaloni's run of reaching every semi-final he has managed since 2019. Messi will make his first World Cup appearance against England, a fixture Argentine coverage framed around that unbroken run rather than the personal narrative.
England
England
England needed a 93rd-minute Bellingham winner to see off Norway, the third straight knockout tie settled in its closing stages rather than controlled. They travel to Atlanta as favourites but with Declan Rice a fitness doubt and Jarell Quansah suspended.