\n
T<\/span>The World Cup is just around the corner, and the United States doesn’t want to be just the host nation, they want to make history and go as far as possible. To accomplish this, the U.S. national team relies entirely on its great star Christian Pulisic, who is yet to see his best years but, in the words of the legend, “he’s still a top player.”<\/p>\nAfter two historic seasons with AC Milan, in which he set a new personal record (32 goals between 2023 and 2025), ‘Captain America’ has already hit a slump in form, having failed to score in five games in a row, but he has also received support from former national team goalkeeper Tim Howard, who spoke about the striker’s form.<\/p>\n
Tim Howard backs Pulisic<\/h2>\n
In the latest episode of the Unfiltered Soccer podcast, goaltending legend Tim Howard breaks down the situation with Landon Donovan. With his trademark candor, Howard sent a sobering but real message to those who expect Pulisic to do no wrong.<\/p>\n
\n
\nHe’s an elite player, but he’s not Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo. They are the only team to score 50 goals every year for a decade and a half. Everyone else experiences negative trends, even the best players<\/p>\n
Tim Howard<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\nFor Howard, Pulisic’s slump is a natural progression for top-level footballers, but he warned that the timing, so close to the World Cup, was sensitive. “He knows he’s not assisting and scoring like he used to. He’s not stupid. But I believe he’s not going to sit back and wait for things to change on their own.”<\/p>\n
Christian Pulisic’s pre-World Cup performance<\/h2>\n
Pulisic’s poor performance appears to be a health issue rather than an attitude issue. Milan manager Massimiliano Allegri recently confirmed that the 27-year-old striker is suffering from bursitis. Inflammation of the joint has robbed him of the explosive power needed to keep Pulisic off balance in Serie A for the 2025-26 season, which ended in February.<\/p>\n
Number of games played: 16 Goals: 8 Assists: 2 Last 5 games: 0 goals\/0 assists.<\/p>\n
The former Chelsea striker may not be in the best of form at the moment, but both Howard and the fans have faith in him and hope he can regain his confidence in the months remaining until the World Cup and lead a team looking to make history.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TThe World Cup is just around the corner, and the United States doesn’t want to be just the host nation, they want to make history and go as far as possible. To accomplish this, the U.S. national team relies entirely on its great star Christian Pulisic, who is yet to see his best years but,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":23215,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-23214","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-latest"},"yoast_head":"\n
USMNT star is concerned about Pulisic's poor performance and warns: ``He is not Messi or Cristiano.'' - EPL VIP \u2013 Latest English Premier League News & Updates<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/15\/usmnt-star-is-concerned-about-pulisics-poor-performance-and-warns-he-is-not-messi-or-cristiano\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"USMNT star is concerned about Pulisic's poor performance and warns: ``He is not Messi or Cristiano.'' - EPL VIP \u2013 Latest English Premier League News & Updates\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"TThe World Cup is just around the corner, and the United States doesn’t want to be just the host nation, they want to make history and go as far as possible. To accomplish this, the U.S. national team relies entirely on its great star Christian Pulisic, who is yet to see his best years but,\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/15\/usmnt-star-is-concerned-about-pulisics-poor-performance-and-warns-he-is-not-messi-or-cristiano\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"EPL VIP \u2013 Latest English Premier League News & Updates\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-02-15T00:22:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin_ok9yktt6\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin_ok9yktt6\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/15\/usmnt-star-is-concerned-about-pulisics-poor-performance-and-warns-he-is-not-messi-or-cristiano\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/15\/usmnt-star-is-concerned-about-pulisics-poor-performance-and-warns-he-is-not-messi-or-cristiano\/\",\"name\":\"USMNT star is concerned about Pulisic's poor performance and warns: ``He is not Messi or Cristiano.'' - EPL VIP \u2013 Latest English Premier League News & Updates\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/15\/usmnt-star-is-concerned-about-pulisics-poor-performance-and-warns-he-is-not-messi-or-cristiano\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/15\/usmnt-star-is-concerned-about-pulisics-poor-performance-and-warns-he-is-not-messi-or-cristiano\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/17710866756658.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-02-15T00:22:25+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/#\/schema\/person\/6b2ade58a96ab056f743f12490573ae9\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/15\/usmnt-star-is-concerned-about-pulisics-poor-performance-and-warns-he-is-not-messi-or-cristiano\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/15\/usmnt-star-is-concerned-about-pulisics-poor-performance-and-warns-he-is-not-messi-or-cristiano\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/15\/usmnt-star-is-concerned-about-pulisics-poor-performance-and-warns-he-is-not-messi-or-cristiano\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/17710866756658.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/17710866756658.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":800},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/15\/usmnt-star-is-concerned-about-pulisics-poor-performance-and-warns-he-is-not-messi-or-cristiano\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"USMNT star is concerned about Pulisic’s poor performance and warns: “He is not Messi or Cristiano.”\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/\",\"name\":\"EPL VIP \u2013 Latest English Premier League News & Updates\",\"description\":\"EPL VIP is your ultimate source for all things related to the English Premier League. Get the latest EPL news, live match updates, transfer rumors, team analysis, fixtures, and exclusive insights for true football fans.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/#\/schema\/person\/6b2ade58a96ab056f743f12490573ae9\",\"name\":\"admin_ok9yktt6\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3caa6e0fae133a2d8ebe213abde6eafe85769664d063c8ab6c7960c877d904ea?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3caa6e0fae133a2d8ebe213abde6eafe85769664d063c8ab6c7960c877d904ea?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin_ok9yktt6\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/author\/admin_ok9yktt6\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"USMNT star is concerned about Pulisic's poor performance and warns: ``He is not Messi or Cristiano.'' - EPL VIP \u2013 Latest English Premier League News & Updates","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/15\/usmnt-star-is-concerned-about-pulisics-poor-performance-and-warns-he-is-not-messi-or-cristiano\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"USMNT star is concerned about Pulisic's poor performance and warns: ``He is not Messi or Cristiano.'' - EPL VIP \u2013 Latest English Premier League News & Updates","og_description":"TThe World Cup is just around the corner, and the United States doesn’t want to be just the host nation, they want to make history and go as far as possible. To accomplish this, the U.S. national team relies entirely on its great star Christian Pulisic, who is yet to see his best years but,","og_url":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/15\/usmnt-star-is-concerned-about-pulisics-poor-performance-and-warns-he-is-not-messi-or-cristiano\/","og_site_name":"EPL VIP \u2013 Latest English Premier League News & Updates","article_published_time":"2026-02-15T00:22:25+00:00","author":"admin_ok9yktt6","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin_ok9yktt6","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/15\/usmnt-star-is-concerned-about-pulisics-poor-performance-and-warns-he-is-not-messi-or-cristiano\/","url":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/15\/usmnt-star-is-concerned-about-pulisics-poor-performance-and-warns-he-is-not-messi-or-cristiano\/","name":"USMNT star is concerned about Pulisic's poor performance and warns: ``He is not Messi or Cristiano.'' - EPL VIP \u2013 Latest English Premier League News & Updates","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/15\/usmnt-star-is-concerned-about-pulisics-poor-performance-and-warns-he-is-not-messi-or-cristiano\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/15\/usmnt-star-is-concerned-about-pulisics-poor-performance-and-warns-he-is-not-messi-or-cristiano\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/17710866756658.jpg","datePublished":"2026-02-15T00:22:25+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/#\/schema\/person\/6b2ade58a96ab056f743f12490573ae9"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/15\/usmnt-star-is-concerned-about-pulisics-poor-performance-and-warns-he-is-not-messi-or-cristiano\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/15\/usmnt-star-is-concerned-about-pulisics-poor-performance-and-warns-he-is-not-messi-or-cristiano\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/15\/usmnt-star-is-concerned-about-pulisics-poor-performance-and-warns-he-is-not-messi-or-cristiano\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/17710866756658.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/17710866756658.jpg","width":1200,"height":800},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/15\/usmnt-star-is-concerned-about-pulisics-poor-performance-and-warns-he-is-not-messi-or-cristiano\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"USMNT star is concerned about Pulisic’s poor performance and warns: “He is not Messi or Cristiano.”"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/","name":"EPL VIP \u2013 Latest English Premier League News & Updates","description":"EPL VIP is your ultimate source for all things related to the English Premier League. Get the latest EPL news, live match updates, transfer rumors, team analysis, fixtures, and exclusive insights for true football fans.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/#\/schema\/person\/6b2ade58a96ab056f743f12490573ae9","name":"admin_ok9yktt6","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3caa6e0fae133a2d8ebe213abde6eafe85769664d063c8ab6c7960c877d904ea?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3caa6e0fae133a2d8ebe213abde6eafe85769664d063c8ab6c7960c877d904ea?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin_ok9yktt6"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/eplvip.com"],"url":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/author\/admin_ok9yktt6\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23214","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23214"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23214\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23215"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23214"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23214"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23214"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}