Taylor Twellman: Those surprised by Christian Pulisic’s struggles ‘didn’t read the tea leaves’

While there will come a day when everyone looks back fondly on the USMNT’s run in the 2026 FIFA World Cup, we’re still in the process of making sense of the team’s 4-1 drubbing at the hands of Belgium.

While expectations were sky-high, the criticism towards the USMNT, and star player Christian Pulisic specifically, has been near-universal since Monday’s match.

Apple MLS analyst Taylor Twellman has been among those with strong words about what went wrong in the pivotal match. In a conversation with Dan Patrick on Wednesday, Twellman was asked what to make of Pulisic’s performance and if it deserved some kind of asterisk.

“If anyone’s a little surprised that he struggled in this World Cup, you didn’t read the tea leaves.”

– @TaylorTwellman on Christian Pulisic pic.twitter.com/Jqfxe8fL1v

— Dan Patrick Show (@dpshow) July 8, 2026

“Listen, Christian’s a fantastic player and I still think he’s always going to be in the conversation for the best [American] player ever,” said Twellman. “But you can’t be naive and not remember that from January 1st to the World Cup, he had zero goal contributions for [AC] Milan. Before that, I just want everyone that’s listening to know: July 27th, 2025 to January 1st, 2026, he was second in goal contributions in Serie A and then literally saw a ghost.

“Because a player of his caliber, you can get assists. … So he’s not just a goalscorer. I need the general public to understand. But he’s a playmaker. He does things that other players can’t. He’s your guy for the United States. However, from January 1st, 2026 to the beginning of World Cup camp before the Senegal game, he had zero goal contributions. So if anyone’s a little surprised that he struggled in this World Cup, well, you didn’t read the tea leaves.

“But then Senegal came. And he was really good. And then Germany came and he was solid. And then the first 45 minutes against Paraguay, I was like, hang on a minute, and then he’s injured.

“So there’s no asterisk, Dan. It’s a long-winded answer to your question. There’s no asterisk. … Everybody on the field against Belgium was not good enough. It wasn’t because Pulisic didn’t do anything attacking third. They were all not good enough.”

There’s going to be a lot of hindsight vision and soul-searching over the next four years as Pulisic and the USMNT look to the 2030 World Cup for a way forward.