‘Fed Up’—Landon Donovan Slams Christian Pulisic After USMNT’s World Cup Exit

The USMNT’s biggest star fell short on the global stage.

Christian Pulisic (left) is under immense pressure. | Alex Grimm/Getty Images (Pulisic), Elysia Su/ISI Photos/Getty Images (Donovan)

Former USMNT forward Landon Donovan has challenged Christian Pulisic to use his disappointing World Cup campaign as a turning point for his career, warning people are “fed up” with the environment around him.

Pulisic, the USMNT’s talisman for the best part of a decade, failed to score in four injury-hit appearances at this summer’s World Cup and has attracted significant criticism in the wake of his side’s 4–1 defeat to Belgium.

The situation brought back memories for Donovan, who failed to live up to his own superstar expectations at the 2006 World Cup, and he offered the AC Milan winger advice on what to do next.

“I believe I am uniquely qualified, the only person probably who has been in his shoes,” Donovan told Unfiltered Soccer. “The level of which he is dealing with this is much greater than the level I dealt with because this was 2006 for me, not many people were paying attention, it wasn’t a home World Cup, social media didn’t exist, so this is exacerbated by a ton.

“I have been in his shoes. I had a horrible World Cup, I completely let the team down, was getting criticized for the first time, not to the extent he is. I know the feeling, the feeling is identical, and I would just say this: It led me to therapy, it led me to take a look at my life and my career, honestly, for the first time. It allowed me to have massive, important conversations with people I love in my life about all things, not just soccer, and it changed my life forever in a positive way.

“I don’t know if Christian cares about that, wants to do all that ... we don’t have a great relationship now. I’m sure he doesn’t like me, doesn’t respect me. I’m saying this to you, Christian. You probably won’t listen, but this is an opportunity to help and to change your life forever.”

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Donovan: Pulisic Needs a Reset

Donovan and Pulisic have an awkward history. | Maja Hitij/FIFA/Getty Images

As Donovan mentioned, his relationship with Pulisic is frosty at best. Criticism of the winger’s decision to skip the USMNT’s Gold Cup campaign drove a wedge between arguably the two biggest names in the history of U.S. soccer.

“This is a day of receipts,” Donovan added. “He took the time off from the Gold Cup so that he would be ready for this season, and he would be fit and healthy, and firing on all cylinders. The reality is, he’s scored one goal since December. He's not played well for the national team, not played well for Milan.”

While willing to criticize the current USMNT winger, Donovan did insist some of his biggest issues with Pulisic are not actually his fault.

“One of the biggest problems ... I speak to people who are at U.S. Soccer, I speak to his sponsors, I speak to his teammates, I speak to the staff and the coaches,” Donovan explained. “People are fed up with the way things are handled around him, and it’s not necessarily him, but it’s his agents, his family, his hangers-on, the people that are influencing him ... people are fed up with it.

“They treat people poorly, they do things poorly, it’s always a ‘no’ whenever you want to ask him to do an interview. You can’t get near him. He doesn’t say hi to the commentators who do all the games all the time when they walk by. All the other guys come over and shake hands, say hello. There just this sense about him that you can’t get near him,

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“I actually don’t think it’s from him. I think it’s from the people around him. They need to stop, and he needs to man up and have a conversation with them and say ‘look, guys, this is not helping me.’

“He needs to get some training on media. I did too. I said a lot of dumb s--- and people were like, ‘hey, Landon, you don’t want to come off this way dude.’ And I still make mistakes all the time.

“All of these things can be a positive. He has, I have to say, he has a big challenge ahead. I’m thinking ahead to the next game . If we happen to be at this game, the next U.S. game in this country, what do you think that’s going to look like? Think about that. Is he going to get booed when they announce him? Maybe, people are livid.

“It’s a longwinded way of saying this can be a good moment in your life. A lot of things need to change, and I actually think it’s not him, it’s the people around him.”

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