USC and USMNT losses were weirdly similar, with the losers’ stars hobbled, defenses riddled, promising starts ruined and championship campaigns canceled.
in the World Cup’s first elimination round present reality checks and lessons for team leaders and fans.
He points out that Pulisic rates behind much younger stars like England’s Mason Mount, 23, Phil Foden, 21, and Jude Bellingham, 19. For USC, it’s tempting to think the result in Las Vegas would have been different, and the Trojans would be on their way to the College Football Playoff, if quarterback and Heisman Trophy contender Caleb Williams wasn’t limping on a bad hamstring, and it’s too easy to think about the team’s leap forward under coach Lincoln Riley instead of the jump it still has to make.