The Arsenal and France legend weighed in on recent critques of Pulisic, including his leadership style.
Christian Pulisic was given the captain armband for the United States men’s national team’s third-place match against Canada Sunday night. For some, it was viewed as a call from Mauricio Pochettino for his biggest star to provide more leadership for a team that has struggled with inconsistency over the past year.
Yet, Arsenal and France legend Thierry Henry implored USMNT critics to stop expecting Pulisic to get out of his comfort zone and be a more demonstrative leader.
“Christian Pulisic is a good player, very good player, and for the first time, is playing week in, week out, and delivering in a good team in Europe. But you also have to stop that narrative that maybe he’s not that type of leader. Stop, don’t force him to be that. He is a technical leader.” Henry said on CBS’s prematch coverage of U.S. vs. Canada. “But is he that enforcer type of leader? [Gennaro] Gattuso wasn’t [Andrea] Pirlo, Pirlo wasn’t Gattuso if you know what I mean. That doesn’t mean he’s not the best in this team as a player.
And Henry stressed that attempting to change the U.S. player into something he is not is counter-productive.
“He is very good at a lot of things, but he doesn’t have maybe that type of leadership, and it’s OK, right?” Henry said. “Stop making him something that he is not because when it comes to that, you’re going to highlight his weaknesses. Concentrate on what he can do. He’s a very good player.”
Entering Sunday’s match against Canada, Pulisic had 32 goals and 18 assists in 76 appearances for the USMNT. Still, despite his overall success, there was criticism over his performance in the Nations League semifinal loss to Panama on Thursday, in which he took just one shot on goal.
The U.S. will reconvene in June, playing friendlies against Turkey and Switzerland before kicking off in the 2025 Gold Cup.
