INGLEWOOD, Calif. — Since the tender age of 17, Christian Pulisic has shouldered the burden of being the Future of American Soccer.
The future needs to become the present. Tomorrow needs to arrive today.
With the U.S. Men’s National Team playing a World Cup on home soil for the first time in 32 years — having kicked off Group D on Friday in SoFi Stadium against Paraguay — Pulisic is the most important player on a team having its most important moment in a generation. Maybe ever.
“I can’t even imagine the weight that’s on his shoulders, in terms of from such a young age he was the hope of American soccer,” said Tyler Adams, who has been Pulisic’s U.S. teammate since the U-17 level. “To step into a World Cup cycle going into 2018 and be the best player on the field at 17 years old, and be the person that they rely on — it’s been since then that the team has relied on him.
“Now, we have weapons around him to kind of relieve that. But he’s a star; not just for the U.S. national team, but in world football.”
Pulisic is facing pressure usually reserved for stars of world football.
No U.S. player — Alexi Lalas on that 1994 team, Landon Donovan on later squads — has been under this kind of microscope. Very few have, perhaps France’s Zinedine Zidane in 1998, Germany’s Michael Ballack in 2006 and Brazil’s Neymar in 2014.
Those hosts were all far better teams than the U.S. But the bar has been raised for the U.S. — with a quarterfinal berth widely viewed as a viable goal — and Pulisic has welcomed those higher expectations.
“[This pressure is] what I’ve always wanted,” the 27-year-old Pulisic said.
“We are a really good team. We want to be a force.”
The U.S. will need the introverted Pulisic to be forceful, and a leader. He has increasingly matured into those roles.
They’ve been hit-or-miss at the World Cup since reaching the 2002 quarterfinals. They got knocked out in the Round of 16 in 2010, ’14 and ’22, bounced in the group stage in 2006 and failed to qualify altogether in 2018.
Fox Sports’ Lalas heaped pressure on this Pulisic-led team to do better.
“This is a generation that has been given absolutely everything — both on and off the field — in terms of resources, in terms of opportunities, in terms of pathways,” Lalas said last month. “I don’t think I’m being unfair by saying that we should expect more from this group.”
Pulisic suffered that 2018 heartbreak as a teen when they missed out on Russia, and got knocked out in the Round of 16 four years ago.
But he’s matured since then, grown into the role.
“I feel more calm and comfortable,” Pulisic said.
“I feel a little bit more relaxed because I’ve been there before. We’ve played in a match like this. I think the experience has calmed me down a little bit.”
Not that the oft-laconic Pulisic was ever frenetic or hyper. He’s always been fairly quiet and introspective. But he’s more mature, able to handle ups and downs.
He opted out of last summer’s Gold Cup to focus on his mental and physical health, which earned a critique from manager Mauricio Pochettino. And he missed seven games this year for AC Milan with injuries and didn’t score at all in 2026.
But Pulisic snapped an 18-month goalless drought for the U.S. on May 31, and has looked better in the final friendlies, with Pochettino having built a more balanced attack that takes some burden off Pulisic.
“We rely on him in big moments,” Adams said. “But that said, I hope he doesn’t feel the pressure to carry it all: Just to be himself and grow into each game. So, we know how important and valuable he is. He’s just an amazing player.”
Pulisic acknowledged his maturity and the balance of the USMNT should ease some of his burden.
“I genuinely don’t feel like I have to do anything on my own,” Pulisic said. “I’m going to give it the best I can. I want to help the team, and they expect a lot out of me; but with the guys I have around me, it makes it a lot easier for me.”
U.S. fans expect a lot from this team, and the team expects a lot from Pulisic.
It remains to be seen if the matured midfielder will be up to the task.
