'That can't happen' - USMNT star Christian Pulisic puzzled by 'strange' events that left Mauricio Pochettino's squad 'shocked'

Ahead of this summer’s World Cup, which will be staged across North America, the U.S. squad took to debuting their new home kit against prominent European opposition. Said jersey consists of red and white wavy horizontal stripes - in a nod to the nation’s flag - and blue shorts.

Belgium, while out on the road, decided to go with their away strip. That shirt is mostly white, with hints of pink and light blue, and is paired with white shorts. Before a ball was kicked, it was determined that the respective kits were different enough to avoid any problems.

Those taking to the field are not convinced that enough thought was given to that process. Pulisic is among those to have found it difficult to differentiate between friends and foes. The AC Milan forward concedes that the USMNT were not good enough on the day, having headed into the interval all square at 1-1 before suffering a second-half collapse, but believes more should have been done to avoid the optical confusion.

Pulisic told reporters afterwards: “It's not an excuse at all because both teams deal with that, but that's just... that can't happen. That was a bit strange.”

He added: “It's difficult. A lot of times you get the ball and you look up, you can't really lock in on something. You only can base it off the colour of the shirt. That's how it works. And when it's very similar, it's difficult.”

Pulisic went on to say, with the issue only becoming apparent to players on both sides when pre-game warm-up tops were removed: “Everyone was a bit shocked.”

ESPN was informed by a spokesperson for U.S. Soccer that a “multi-layered process for checking to see if there was a conflict with jersey colours was undertaken before the match”. That process involved the USMNT asking Belgium to “use their non-contrasting jersey”.

Images of both shirts were “sent to match referees, and a match coordination meeting was then held in which the jerseys were seen”. The officials were given another look at the tops on game day and “at no time did the referees indicate that they felt there was a conflict”.

While Pulisic disagrees with that assessment, Weston McKennie is another that feels the match officials got a big call wrong. The Juventus midfielder, fresh from agreeing a contract extension in Italy, found the going tougher against Belgium than it needed to be.

He said of the kit clash: “I won't put that at all for an excuse of the game, but definitely it was a little bit difficult.

“Whenever you do a quick glance to tell which was which, it was almost like a 50-50 thing. So you definitely had to maybe take a little bit more time on the ball before you made a decision or play one-touch to a player.”

The USMNT, who have seen their five-match unbeaten run brought to a close, will remain in Georgia for a meeting with Portugal on Tuesday. Cristiano Ronaldo, who has been nursing an injury, will play no part in that contest but will be in America for another major tournament this summer.