After four years of waiting, the hosts have another shot at rewriting their World Cup story. The USA’s heartbreaking Round of 16 exit in 2022 still lingers, but with a place in the 2026 Round of 16 secured after dispatching Bosnia and Herzegovina, the US players are now eyeing redemption against Belgium. As they prepare for another knockout battle, former head coach Gregg Berhalter believes there is one player who hasn’t been well utilised by Mauricio Pochettino. Someone who could be the difference maker: Christian Pulisic.
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“I want to touch quickly on Christian because I don’t know if you guys remember the first time he touched the ball in the game,” Gregg Berhalter said on the July 2nd FanDuel episode, referencing one attacking sequence Pulisic initiated
“It really came from us, built in our shape. But then on the next pass to our open center back, they released a midfielder. Christian was wide, and we played with the ball. Malik runs behind the back line, and Christian cuts across the middle of the field like a knife, just accelerating across the field. And that was a really dangerous attack.”
Christian Pulisic, a winger and attacking midfielder, had a good but understated performance when the US sealed a 2-0 victory against Bosnia and Herzegovina. He played until the 88th minute after recovering from a calf injury, but he did not feature as much as a winger should. Pulisic even got the ball into the back of the net in the second half, but the referee ruled it offside.
The only time he was seen with the ball was when the aggressive “3-1-6” formation was used to break the defense. As soon as the Bosnian midfielder ran with Antonee Robinson, a gap was created; Pulisic dribbled the ball alone, breaking the Bosnian defence. That is what is needed from the US captain.
With 10 men on the field after Folarin Balogun was sent off in the 64th minute, Pulisic had to switch to a more defensive player. It was not enough for the fans, or even the former coach. Captain Pulisic had no goals and no assists in the match. Even when Pulisic didn’t have the ball, Bosnia players were building their attack against him, putting him under tremendous pressure. Ultimately, while he didn’t provide individual magic, his selflessness as a captain comfortably allowed a 10-man U.S. squad to close out a historic World Cup knockout victory.
That defensive shift is the exact thing Berhalter wants fixed. For him, the team needs more deliberate tactical identity built around finding him in advanced areas.
“I would have liked to see that more from him. Stay wide, get the ball, take the opponent on, and have players running from there. I don’t think we did that enough,” Berhalter added. “I don’t think there was enough intention to get Christian the ball in those positions to really set him loose.”
Berhalter has high expectations of Pulisic, as the two have spent 6 years together building his identity. For the former coach, Pulisic was not the captain, but the team’s vital “elite European talent.” He knows his winger can score when isolated out wide and given the freedom to cut inside diagonally.
Mauricio Pochettino would have to use the potential of the captain at full capacity to secure a victory, as Belgium is a tough team to crack. If they could win a match in which they were 2-0 down until the very end, they could pull off anything.
