'Obvious that this team lacks aggression' - ESPN FC analyst Alejandro Moreno slams Christian Pulisic, USMNT over Nations League results

Following the USMNT's disappointing 2025 Nations League showing, a semifinal defeat to Panama and a third-place match loss to Canada, critics have come in fast and come in harsh on their performances.

Ex-players such as Landon Donovan and Kasey Keller and Tim Howard have asked for more from the players and staff. ESPN analyst and former Venezuela international Alejandro Moreno joined the chorus.

"I need to see an improvement - that is obvious to see," Moreno said on ESPN FC. "And while Christian Pulisic said, 'Well, you know, the easiest thing to point out is the aggression' ... Yes! Because it's obvious! It's obvious that this team lacks aggression. And so if he wants me to spell it out for him, I will: Christian, I'll spell it out for you, I'll define it for you: 92nd minute, your team is losing 2-1, and you guys are keeping possession in the back line and in the midfield.

"Again, let me repeat that you're losing 2-1 in a game in which you were supposed to show a response. And you're keeping possession of the ball in the midfield and the back line without actually showing aggression to get the ball forward, to manufacture chaos, to push for a goal your team. The United States never looked likely to score a game-tying goal. In fact, I would argue that Canada looked more likely to score at their own goal themselves."

Moreno's comments were in response to Pulisic, who said after the Canada match that critics asking for the USMNT to be aggressive were giving an "easy" analysis of their performances.

"It's an easy thing to say we lacked aggression, there's a lot of things that go with that - it's not just fighting and kicking," Pulisic said after the match. "You know the other team, you've got to play better football, you've got to have better ideas, you've got to be more aggressive in the way we attack... just creating more, getting more opportunities and just being more of a threat to the other team."

The AC Milan star was substituted 69 minutes into their loss against Canada, and played 90 minutes against Panama.

The U.S. failed to win the Nations League for the first time in the competition's history in 2025. They had won all three previous editions.

The U.S. return to the pitch in June for the FIFA international break, where they will play both Switzerland and Turkey in a pair of friendlies leading up to the CONCACAF Gold Cup.