Pulisic's Milan magic good news for USA
The USA star is playing the finest football of his career and stands to reach World Cup 2026 in top form.
Pulisic is thriving in his third season at AC Milan
The USA star has become one of the top players in Serie A
His performance at club level is a great sign for the 2026 co-hosts
The spotlight will be brighter than ever for members of the USA national team when they take the field at the FIFA World Cup 2026™. The buzz and attention surrounding the co-hosts in the 48-team extravaganza will be unprecedented, with much of it focused on Christian Pulisic.
For years now, the 27-year-old forward has been the face of the Stars and Stripes, having narrowly missed out on Russia 2018 as a teenager before playing a major role in helping USA reach the knockouts at Qatar 2022.
He is already used to dealing with the pressure of being ‘the face of American soccer’, having been a part of top European clubs like Borussia Dortmund and Chelsea, a UEFA Champions League winner in 2020/21 with the latter.
But since the start of the 2023/24 season, Pulisic has plied his trade in Italy with Serie A giants AC Milan, and in his third season at the club, the native of Hershey, Pennsylvania is displaying the best football of his career.
Even though he was riddled with a hamstring injury in October that forced him to miss a month of action, Pulisic finished the first half of Milan’s season as their top scorer, with ten goals in 16 games.
That includes eight goals in Serie A play, making him the league’s joint top-scorer with current world champion and Inter Milan striker Lautaro Martinez, but with five fewer matches played. Along the way, he has chipped in two assists, giving him 12 goal contributions in all competitions.
One of his best performances came in unexpected fashion, as an illness reduced him to a substitute’s role in an 8 December encounter against Torino, only for Pulisic to come off the bench and bag a second half brace to lead his side to a comeback 3-2 win.
His game from a tactical perspective has matured, allowing Milan head coach Massimiliano Allegri to slot Pulisic into different positions when necessary. Whether it is running out wide, or playing as a second striker, Pulisic is becoming a master of time and space.
Ageless midfield wizard Luka Modric’s arrival to Milan prior to the season has no doubt rubbed off, with Pulisic showing the best off-the-ball movement of his career. So many of his goals come from timely arrivals into the box, a clear sign that his IQ for finding the right space and time has grown by leaps and bounds.
“He still has room for improvement,” said Allegri about Pulisic in a recent press conference. “In his private life, he’s very reserved, but he transforms on the pitch. He still needs to find his best condition.”
From afar, this is welcomed news for USA coach Mauricio Pochettino. The Argentinian tactician has worked dutifully in reshaping the national team to become more of a collective, dispelling the notion of ‘regular starters’. That has made the entire USA player pool eager to perform at club level, knowing that the margins on final roster decisions for the World Cup will be razor-thin. The fact that his biggest star is leading the charge in this regard will make for the perfect kind of selection headache.
"I think Christian in the last year showed a great quality,” said Pochettino in October on the Unfiltered Soccer podcast. “He's performing in Europe, also he's performing with the national team. He's a very talented player that can help us to win.
"You say people compare (Lionel) Messi with Christian Pulisic. I don't want to be disrespectful to Messi or Pulisic, but I think in this country, Pulisic should be our Messi, because he's an iconic player. The kids on the street for sure if you ask one soccer player in this country, it's Pulisic.”
A full half-season remains for Pulisic in Milan, with just a single international window in late March to make one final impression on Pochettino, but the rise in level of their headline act bodes quite well for what could be a transcendent tournament for USA.