Colin Cowherd calls U.S. soccer media ‘soft,’ argues it’s ‘healthy’ to rip Christian Pulisic

Nearly every former American soccer star in sports media had it out for USMNT phenom Christian Pulisic this week after a rough exit from the World Cup, and FS1’s Colin Cowherd seems to be thrilled by it.

Though news eventually broke that Pulisic suffered a bone bruise and microfracture in his knee during Monday’s loss to Belgium, that didn’t stop the retired athletes from coming after him.

On Fox airwaves, Carli Lloyd twisted the knife on Pulisic immediately postgame. Fellow Fox analyst Landon Donovan, on his podcast, blasted Pulisic for asking to be subbed out of the game and claimed people within U.S. Soccer were growing tired of the star winger. Former MLS striker Taylor Twellman underscored Pulisic’s inconsistent commitment to the USMNT in a radio appearance.

And in a rant during Thursday’s episode of The Herd, the longtime host called it “healthy” to rip a soccer star like Pulisic in the same way that top NFL quarterbacks might get it before later knocking American soccer media as “soft.”

“American soccer star Christian Pulisic, the knives are out. Pulisic making sure everyone hears that he’s injured, it’s just fantastic,” Cowherd said.

Cowherd joked that America may have “arrived” as a soccer nation now that it is bringing the proper energy against a star who came up short:

“This is what happens in England when you don’t get it done at the World Cup. That’s what happens in Brazil and Argentina. I’ll tell you [when] we’ve arrived, [when] we’re beating up on Christian Pulisic. I’ll be the first one to say it. It’s healthy. We crush Caleb Williams, we crush Patrick Mahomes, we crush Joe Burrow.”

“Pulisic, making sure everybody hears that he’s injured. It is just fantastic…because our soccer media is a little soft and precious and too often panders like our NBA media does, it’s taken actual soccer players to lower the boom” – Colin Cowherd pic.twitter.com/GAXHjPrFlh

— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) July 9, 2026

While Cowherd acknowledged the story changed slightly once Pulisic’s injury details leaked, he believes Pulisic is more than deserving of negativity over his poor performance alone.

“Nobody’s denying he’s hurt, but before the injury, there was disappointment,” he said. “Do I think if Christian Pulisic scored seven goals in the World Cup, this would come out? No, I don’t. But Pulisic has been our best soccer player, arguably, in the country, for six, seven years… and maybe our best ever. So this is part and parcel to what happens if you go to a World Cup and you’re a no-show.”

Before letting the topic go, Cowherd doled out a bit of criticism toward American soccer media as well, praising players like Lloyd and Donovan for leading the charge to hold Pulisic accountable when usual commentators haven’t.

“Because our soccer media is a little soft and precious and too often panders like our NBA media too often does, it’s taken actual soccer players to lower the boom,” Cowherd said.

Cowherd’s point is well-taken, but soccer is an unusual sport given that in the U.S., the media that covers it is almost exclusively made up of studio hosts, print journalists, and former athletes. Cowherd himself is the type of in-between national talking head who would typically “crush” someone like Mahomes, but these voices do not focus much on soccer outside of World Cups.

Assuming Cowherd was not criticizing himself while saying soccer media is “precious,” it’s unclear who he is taking issue with if not the former players who fill every game broadcast booth and studio crew across Fox, Apple, and other American soccer media rosters.