Vanney calls Team USA too naive after World Cup exit, Pulisic hurt

Greg Vanney said the United States men’s national team was “too naive” after Christian Pulisic went down in a 4-1 round-of-16 loss to Belgium that sent the Americans home again. U.S. Soccer later confirmed Pulisic had a bone bruise and microfracture in his lower leg and would miss several weeks.

Belgium struck first in the ninth minute in Seattle, but Malik Tillman pulled the U.S. level in the 31st minute before Belgium answered 52 seconds later and took back control. Pulisic left in the 59th minute with a right ankle injury and was replaced by Sebastian Berhalter. The injury came after Pulisic kicked into Youri Tielemans’ leg while trying to shoot.

The aftermath sharpened a familiar debate about what elite international opponents expose in U.S. soccer: not just tactics, but judgment under pressure, squad depth and the burden carried by the player expected to solve everything. ESPN reported that Pulisic said after the loss that he was disappointed in himself, a rare admission from the face of the program and a reminder that the central attacking role still depends heavily on one player’s health and form. NBC News noted that the Americans have not reached a World Cup quarterfinal since 2002, a drought that now spans more than two decades.

Pulisic’s tournament never fully settled. He had already been limited by a calf injury in group play, sitting out part of the Paraguay match and missing the Australia match entirely. That left him short of rhythm entering the knockout stage, and it fed the sense among critics that the U.S. arrived at the decisive round without its most important attacking piece at full strength.

The criticism did not stop at Vanney. Carli Lloyd said she was disappointed with Pulisic’s performance and described the team as tentative and scared from the opening whistle. The wider argument around commitment has also shadowed the player for years, with Landon Donovan’s past criticism of top U.S. players skipping national-team duty still part of the conversation around who carries responsibility when the stakes rise. Against Belgium, the Americans again looked a step behind a top-tier opponent that punished every lapse.