4 days Ago By Anthony Wood
Having first been handed the captain's armband aged just 20, Christian Pulisic has long been labeled ‘Captain America.’ The U.S.
Men’s National Team ’s guiding light for the best part of a decade, the weight on the now 26-year-old’s shoulders is unenviable, and as far as one ex-international is concerned, is unfair. With 106 caps and 34 goals for the USMNT to his name Eric Wynalda knows a thing or two about what it takes to represent the U.S.
Speaking on his show , 'Unleashed with Eric Wynalda,' he laid out why he believes Pulisic “is not our captain.” “ Zlatan [Ibrahimovic] thought he was Captain America , but let’s stop with this, the kids got enough going on..
. I think that this is too much for him,” Wynalda explained. “What this team needs is somebody else to grab the reins there and be a leader.
” Meanwhile, USMNT legends Tim Howard and Landon Donovan have called on Mauricio Pochettino's side to give fans a reason to feel excited as the 2026 World Cup nears. The former Bundesliga and MLS forward went on to explain that he believes “Pulisic is not a leader,” adding that the AC Milan star “shouldn’t wear the captain’s band, and that’s not a bad thing.” Rather, Wynalda is of the opinion that Pulisic is being thrust into a situation that simply does not fit his personality - a situation he sees as representative of a far larger issue with soccer across the U.
S. “The bigger problem that we have with our U.S.
team is we don’t have a leader. We don’t have enough guys, even if it’s by committee, I don’t care, I really don’t care,” he continued. “There’s been some guys that have worn the captain’s band, I mean just don’t use three syllables because they won’t understand what the hell you said.
Listen to our All Out Soccer podcast on both Apple and Spotify. “That’s just part of the deal, but they’re gonna go on the field and they’re going to represent the flag and they’re going to represent your country and they’re going to fight and they’re going to play hard and they’re going to get into somebody when they’re not pulling their weight. That’s a captain, we don’t have that.
So let’s get off Christian’s back.” Wynalda also pre-emted suggestions that AFC Bournemouth star Tyler Adams should be named USMNT captain moving forward - a position he held during the 2022 World Cup - however, Wynalda vehemently disagreed. He believed Adams “wants to laugh his way through every situation and you know it doesn’t work either.
We need a little bit of fire and I don’t know where that’s going to come from, I really don’t.” In what he perceives as an absence of leadership, Wynalda suggested the onus is on Pochettino to lead, while understanding "that these are not his friends." He added: “These are people that need to perform and they work with you and for you and if they don't want to get the work done, they can be replaced.
”.
