Landon Donovan Calls Out How USMNT's Christian Pulisic is Handled in New Video, 'People Are Fed Up'

United States soccer legend Landon Donovan has a message for Christian Pulisic following the USMNT's exit from the World Cup.

Donovan said that he knows what it's like to be in Pulisic's shoes, and he said the young star needs to evaluate how he and his circle handle themselves moving forward.

"This is an opportunity to help and to change your life forever. One of the biggest problems — I speak to people who are at U.S. Soccer. I speak to his sponsors. I speak to his teammates. I speak to the staff and the coaches. People are fed up with the way things are handled around him. And it's not necessarily him, but it's his agents, his family, his hangers-on, the people who are influencing. People are fed up with it. They treat people poorly. They do things poorly. It's always a 'no' whenever you wanna ask, 'Can we do an interview?' It's always a, 'No, you can't get near him.' He doesn't say 'hi' to the commentators who do all the games all the time when they walk by. All the other guys come over and shake hands and say, 'Hello.' There's just this sense about him that you can't get near him. And I actually don't think it's from him. I think it's from I think it's from the people around him."

The call-out from Donovan comes after a poor performance from Pulisic in his second World Cup. The 27-year-old finished the tournament without a goal and with just one assist.

He was forced to exit the U.S.'s Round of 16 match early because of an ankle injury. When asked about the injury, Pulisic told Fox Sports, "I just twisted my ankle and just sprained my ankle. It's just frustrating to end like that, of course. But now I've got time to rest, so it'll be okay."

His comments drew criticism from former USWNT stars Carli Lloyd and Sydney Leroux.

Donovan also addressed Pulisic's exit from the match on his podcast, saying he would have handled things much differently.

"The reality is, he came out of a World Cup knockout game at home, with his leg still intact. Because you would have had to f–king drag me off the field," Donovan said. "And I would have punched the doctor in the face and said, 'You're not taking me off the field. Put whatever you need to put in me, and I'm staying on the field.'"

Pulisic is widely considered the USMNT's best player, but he looked far from it during this year's tournament. He missed the United States' group stage match against Australia and then played just 30 minutes against Türkiye.

Expectations were high for this year's team with Pulisic leading the way, but they once again couldn't advance past the Round of 16. Pulisic can't shoulder all of the blame, but he left much to be desired this year.

"In the end, he's your best player, he's your star player, and it just didn't happen for him," Donovan said. "I want to be careful because I'm sure people are piling on him, a lot of it he deserves, of course. That's part and parcel with this role. It's just disappointing, I was waiting for a moment for him … and it just didn't happen."