Alexi Lalas addresses ‘sensitive’ Christian Pulisic as Pochettino teases World Cup glory for USMNT

The United States men’s national team are hoping to do what they have done only once before – progress past the quarterfinal stage at a FIFA World Cup.

Spearheaded by Argentine manager Mauricio Pochettino, the USMNT will have the home crowd to their advantage, co-hosting the 2026 World Cup with Canada and Mexico.

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Christian Pulisic is the face of the USA’s attack, but the AC Milan star has come under some scrutiny of late from club manager Massimiliano Allegri, in which he was labeled as ‘sensibile’ – which translates in English to ‘sensitive’.

“He’s a very sensitive guy, the fact that he doesn’t score affects him more,” the Milan boss said of the American.

“He’s a player who gets into tackles and struggles more, he suffers more from this. I have to try to give the team balance, playing without a true centre forward, he struggles more.” 

This comment in particular caught the attention of USMNT legend Alexi Lalas, the former Stars and Stripes center-back who made 96 appearances between 1991-1998, scoring 10 goals.

“Anytime you call someone sensitive, there is a negative connotation to it,” Lalas said on Friday’s episode of Alexi Lalas’ State of the Union podcast.

“So at this point, I don’t know how this helps Christian Pulisic other than a recognition of he’s going through a moment right now.

“But the last thing in the world that you want to be called by a coach, and certainly someone that’s making decisions relative to your futures, as sensitive.

“I will say this. We have all discovered over the years that Christian Pulisic, as a soccer player, has certainly developed and matured into what I think ultimately is going to be considered the best male American soccer player in history.

“But, he has not become the player that a lot of people envisioned. And it’s not his fault, this is who he is. He cannot be something that he’s not. He cannot be the personality of a Weston McKennie or Chris Richards. That’s just not who he is.

“While he does have a physical ability to put his body on the line, I also think that outside things can impact him and maybe he takes them personally, and maybe he’s more emotional than you would like from an athlete.

“But from a public perspective, it’s just not the thing that you want to hear and not the thing that you want to see for a player that’s going to be so crucial to this US team come this summer.”

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Pochettino going for World Cup glory

The U.S. Soccer Federation appointed Pochettino after they relieved Gregg Berhalter of his duties in 2024 after their Copa América failure.

They tied down the former Chelsea, Paris Saint-Germain and Tottenham Hotspur coach on a two-year deal worth a reported $6 million annually, seeing him become the highest-paid head coach in the nation’s history.

The 54-year-old brought with him the belief that the USMNT could do something they have never achieved before – go all the way to World Cup glory.

“When I met Mr. President [Trump] before the draw in Washington, he asked me, ‘Do you think coach that we can win [the tournament]?’ I say, ‘Of course,'” Pochettino said in a recent appearance on The Overlap’s Stick to Football podcast.

“Why not [win the World Cup] Why not? Because it’s all about belief. Look at Morocco in Qatar. No one believed and they went right to the semi-final. … I think there are plenty of examples. if you put a limit or you say, ‘Maybe it is for us is to arrive to a quarterfinal. …

“I think because all is possible in in football and because I really believe that everything is possible, instead you stop to believe. But look what happened in 2019 in Amsterdam, it is because the standard and the habit and the mentality was to believe until the end.

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“It is how you create that habit to win – the mentality, the capacity, the resilience and everything that comes after in a tough moment. After you can lose, but [there is] always the opportunity in the game.”

Lalas sends strong warning to USMNT

Pochettino may be confident – at least outwardly – of the US’s chances, the fact of the matter is, the USA have only reached the quarter-finals once since their third place finish at the inaugural World Cup in 1930, doing so in 2002.

Lalas has been fortunate enough to play in a World Cup for his country, having played all 90 minutes of the U.S.’s four games in the 1994 summer tournament played on home soil, in which they reached the Round of 16, losing to Brazil 1-0 after a Bebeto winner.

But he argues that the lack of experience in progressing through to the latter stages of major tournaments in recent years, and the disappointment in the 2025 Gold Cup final, could trip the USMNT up in the newly-expanded 48-team tournament.

“Our Achilles heel is that we’ve never been there. We’ve never done that,” Lalas said. “In the last World Cup the Dutch were a better team that recognized the moment that they were in and had the experience and the history to be able to do what needed to be done against, in this case, an inferior opponent in the form of the United states.

“If we are in the round of 16, potentially getting to a a quarterfinal, a lot of those players that you saw four years ago are going to be there and you have to hope that they will bring some of that experience.

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“Now, if they get into rarified air where they’ve never been, then you just kind of have to adjust in that moment.”

As for his advice to those who go on to make the 26-man roster this summer, Lalas has two words: “Don’t settle.”

“I hope that this group comes into this World Cup and doesn’t settle, in that their Achilles heel could be that they’re satisfied and that ‘this is enough’. They get out of the group, they maybe win the round of 32,” he added.

“Don’t lose the hunger of doing things. This goes back to what we talked about before of doing things that people say you can’t do or that haven’t been done before. I don’t know how you instill that.

“But when that final whistle blows, don’t come to the realization, ‘Oh, we deserved to be here and we were better than what we did on the field,’ because you’ll never get that back.”

All 104 games at the 2026 World Cup this summer will be live on talkSPORT, talkSPORT 2 and the talkSPORT app.