Pulisic, USMNT ‘surprised’ by uniform color conflict in defeat against Belgium
ATLANTA — Christian Pulisic was among several players who noted that the similarly colored kits worn by Belgium and the United States during Saturday’s friendly made it more challenging to identify teammates, although he asserted that it did not influence the Americans’ 5-2 loss.
“It’s not an excuse at all because both teams deal with that, but that’s just … that can’t happen,” Pulisic stated. “That was a bit strange.”
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He continued, “It’s difficult. A lot of times you receive the ball and look up, you can’t really focus on anything. You can only rely on the color of the shirt. That’s how it works. And when it’s very similar, it’s challenging.”
Pulisic mentioned that he did not realize there would be an issue until everyone removed their pre-game warmup jerseys.
“Everyone was a bit shocked,” he remarked.
The Americans were unveiling their World Cup jerseys, featuring red and white horizontal stripes paired with blue shorts. Belgium’s kits were predominantly white with accents of pink and light blue, complemented by white shorts.
U.S. midfielder Weston McKennie shared Pulisic’s views.
“I won’t use that as an excuse for the game, but it was definitely a bit challenging,” he said.
“Whenever you take a quick glance to distinguish which was which, it was almost like a fifty-fifty situation. So you definitely had to perhaps take a little more time on the ball before making a decision or playing one-touch to a teammate.”
Belgium secured the victory, ending the Americans’ five-game unbeaten streak. After the first half concluded at 1-1, the Red Devils surged with four goals in the second half, with substitute Dodi Lukebakio scoring twice.
The U.S. will return to action in Atlanta against Portugal on Tuesday. This match will be the final opportunity for head coach Mauricio Pochettino to evaluate his players before finalizing his roster for the World Cup at the end of May.
The U.S., co-hosting the tournament alongside Canada and Mexico, will commence its World Cup journey against Paraguay on June 12 in Inglewood, California.
