The contrast was stark a few days later, when a devastated Pulisic, with tears in his eyes and his voice barley above a whisper, blamed himself for missing a potentially outcome-altering chance early against the Netherlands before the U.S. was eliminated by the powerful Dutch. Like many elite soccer players, Pulisic is streaky. When he’s up, he’s the most dynamic attacking player the country has ever produced, a truly world-class talent who can win matches at the highest level all by himself.

When he’s down — right now, the 27-year-old is mired in a 17-game goalless streak for the U.S. and Italian club AC Milan — Pulisic is a shell of his best self. Pulisic was at the height of his powers earlier this season when, despite playing mostly as a winger or play-making midfielder, he had the best goals-to-minutes ratio of any player in Serie A. His current drought isn’t even the longest of his career.

He went 21 games between goals with Chelsea in 2020-21 but ended the season in triumph, scoring against Real Madrid in the Champions League semifinals as the Blues went on to win Europe’s most coveted trophy. The following year, his last in London, Pulisic didn’t score in his final 20 appearances. "Like, I know a ball will hit off my knee and go in and then things will change," Pulisic said in Atlanta last month after a 5-2 loss to Belgium in a World Cup warmup.

"I’m not gonna panic. Better now than in the summer. Things are going to change." They haven’t in his four games since.

May is just around the corner. Summer will be here in a flash. Fun as it is to dig into the weeds and argue about who’ll be the 25th or 26th player on Mauricio Pochettino’s World Cup roster, how far the tournament co-hosts go on home soil hinges on the performance of its best players, Pulisic chief among them.

His next chance comes on Sunday, when the Rossoneri welcome rivals Juventus and fellow USA star Weston McKennie to the San Siro. For Pulisic, Pochettino and U.S. fans, his next goal can’t arrive soon enough. With just over a month to go until Pochettino drops the Americans' World Cup squad, here’s how other roster hopefuls are faring with their clubs.

Stock Up 📈 The 25-year-old speedster’s career season continued on Wednesday, when he went 84 minutes in Leeds’ 2-2 Premier League tie with Bournemouth. (Tyler Adams was a second-half sub for the Cherries.) Aaronson notched his fifth assist of the campaign the game prior, a 3-0 victory over Wolves. He and Leeds next face Chelsea in Sunday’s FA Cup semifinal. With 10 goals in his last 10 contests at club level, Balogun is in the form of his life right now.

He’s also scored in eight straight games in France’s top division, putting him just one away from tying the Ligue 1 record. U.S. teammate Mark McKenzie will try to prevent that, as Balogun & Co. head to Toulouse this weekend. Johnny played all 90 minutes of Wednesday’s 3-2 loss to Elche, just the fifth time since joining Atleti last summer that he’s gone the distance for Diego Simeone’s side.

With their Champions League semifinal first leg against Arsenal looming next week, don’t be surprised if Simeone goes right back to Cardoso when Athletic Bilbao visits the Spanish capital on Saturday. Dest wasn’t in uniform for the Dutch champs’ match versus Zwolle on Thursday, but the 2022 World Cup vet insisted this week that he’ll soon return from the hamstring issue that has sidelined him since March 7. "I’m almost back," Dest said with the 2026 event now in sight.

"I’m gonna be there. I'm gonna be fine." PSV coach Peter Bosz said Dest should return before the Eredivisie season ends on May 17.

The Dutch champs have three more games after Thursday, including Sunday’s trip to historic nemesis Ajax. Somebody asked me this week if Dike, in the wake of Patrick Agyemang’s Achilles tear, has any chance of sneaking onto the World Cup squad. I said no.

But with two goals in his last two outings for the Baggies, the Oklahoma-born target man is clearly heating up. West Brom hosts Ipswich on Saturday. The little playmaker made it two straight games with a goal last Saturday, the second in his first start of 2026 for RSL.

In Wednesday's 2-0 loss to Lionel Messi’s Inter Miami, Luna went all 90 minutes for the first time this campaign. On Wednesday, the lanky Texan celebrated his 13th league start with two goals, his 15th and 16th across all competitions this season for PSV, in a 6-1 trouncing of Zwolle. He now has 13 in the Netherlands top flight, a new career high for Pepi. Roldan followed up on his two assists in Seattle’s Concacaf Champions Cup win over Mexican power Tigres on April