Pulisic ready to shoulder burden of US hopes

IRVINE, California:

Christian Pulisic is the most accomplished and most famous player on his national team at the exact time when his nation is hosting a World Cup.

Only a handful of prominent players in the past few decades has faced this confluence of talent and timing. They include a selection of generational greats: Zinedine Zidane for France in 1998, Michael Ballack for Germany in 2006, Neymar for Brazil in 2014.

Pulisic’s United States (US) teammates recognise the extraordinary burden he is carrying while the Americans prepare for their World Cup opener on Friday night against Paraguay. From the field to the back row of the stands, everyone is looking to Pulisic for leadership and goals, hoping his full decade of international success with club and country will propel a middling soccer nation to new heights on home soil.

“I can’t even imagine the weight that’s on his shoulders,” teammate Tyler Adams said. “From such a young age, he was the hope of American soccer.”

SPOTLIGHT

Pulisic does not shy from the spotlight that will glare more brightly than ever in the next few weeks. In fact, he repeated on Thursday that this challenge is “what I’ve always wanted”.

Now 27 years old, Pulisic has enough achievement and enough faith in his teammates to focus on how far the Americans can go, not how far they might fall.

IMPORTANT PLAYER

“Of course he needs to be an important player for us in the competition,” said coach Mauricio Pochettino, who took over the US team in late 2024. “(But) I think what we’ve learned after a year and a half is that the badge of the national team and the culture with this country is more important than any name, any player or any coach. That is a principal thing that we (believe) and, from there, if you have talent and quality, you can perform on that platform.”

Adams, the 27-year-old Bournemouth midfielder, has been right alongside Pulisic for most of this ride.

He watched in awe as the 17-year-old Pulisic made his senior US debut in late 2016. Those Americans failed to qualify for the 2018 World Cup, but 

Pulisic became known across the world when he moved from Dortmund to Chelsea in 2019. He was part of the Blues’ Champions League winners in 2021, becoming only the second American to claim the ultimate club trophy, before moving in 2023 to AC Milan, where he remains a vital player for another major club.

Pulisic finally made his World Cup debut four years ago in Qatar, contributing a big goal and an assist — but the US scored just three goals in their four games before going home in the knockout round.

“It feels similar, but with a bit of that comfort of being in America,” Pulisic said of his World Cup return. “It feels great having the people you love around you. It makes it that much more special.”