The U.S. team\u2019s electric 4-1 win over Paraguay – capped by Gio Reyna\u2019s exclamation point of a second-half strike – was a clear statement from a team eyeing a breakthrough run on home soil, a long 32 years after the 1994 World Cup captivated a generation of sports fans. But it also marked a much-needed pronouncement from the squad\u2019s unassuming catalyst.<\/p>\n
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And even if Pulisic – long the United States\u2019 best hope for a global soccer star – didn\u2019t end up on the score sheet, there was no denying that the attack flowed through his torrent of deft cuts, explosive bursts and crisp combinations.<\/p>\n
\u201cChristian was cooking, man,\u201d defender Chris Richards said. \u201cWhen Christian\u2019s on his game, he\u2019s a tough guy to stop.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was so sharp,\u201d wingback Tim Weah observed. \u201cHe\u2019s been looking sharp in training, and he showed that today.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat Christian,\u201d midfielder Sebastian Berhalter added, \u201cis a scary Christian.\u201d<\/p>\n
As the face of the U.S. squad for the better part of a decade, Pulisic, 27, always was going to play this tournament under outsize scrutiny.<\/p>\n
Addressing the expectations two weeks ago at the squad\u2019s roster reveal in New York, he could only laugh and shrug. \u201cI mean, there\u2019s pressure,\u201d he mused. \u201cIt\u2019s a World Cup.\u201d In a recent GQ interview, he raised eyebrows by calling the North America-hosted spectacle \u201cjust another big tournament.\u201d Asked Thursday morning to compare this go-around to the 2022 tournament in Qatar, Pulisic doubled down.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s the same,\u201d Pulisic said. \u201cIt has that big game feel, for sure, similarly. But in some ways, I feel a little bit more relaxed.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Zen outlook is unsurprising from Pulisic, who tends to be fiery on the field but soft-spoken, slightly bemused and decidedly sheepish with the media. That disposition has fed the narrative that the U.S. team\u2019s spark isn\u2019t entirely plugged in.<\/p>\n
Yes, his 33 goals for the U.S. are already good for fifth all-time. But he endured an 18-month national team drought before scoring in a tuneup win over Senegal. After racking up double-digit goals in each of his first two Serie A campaigns with AC Milan, he recorded only eight this season – and none since the new year.<\/p>\n
\u201cI mean, I feel that I\u2019ve been playing at a decent level for a while,\u201d Pulisic said. \u201cI am so honored to be here, representing my country, playing in the World Cup. I don\u2019t need any more motivation.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s unlikely Pulisic will ever take World Cup matches for granted. He had seemed destined to play in one since he emerged as a generational prospect in Hershey, Pennsylvania. At 19, when he was already starring for German power Borussia Dortmund, he nearly willed a dysfunctional U.S. team to the 2018 tournament but experienced the sting of qualifying failure nonetheless. Finally reaching the World Cup four years ago, Pulisic put his body on the line to net the winning goal against Iran and send the Americans to the round of 16.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can\u2019t even imagine the weight that\u2019s on his shoulders,\u201d midfielder Tyler Adams said. \u201cFrom such a young age, he was the hope of American soccer.\u201d<\/p>\n
But the rest of the team\u2019s youthful core, which arrived after Pulisic developed from teen prodigy to precocious veteran, sees only a quiet but reliable star.<\/p>\n
\u201cChristian shows up whenever he needs to show up,\u201d McKennie said. \u201cI\u2019ve mentioned in the past – months ago, with the people criticizing and being worried about whether he\u2019s going to be in form or not in form for the World Cup – that he\u2019s going to show up.\u201d<\/p>\n
There\u2019s truth to this. Pulisic netted the extra-time winner against Mexico in the 2021 Concacaf Nations League title game, and he scored twice against that regional rival in the competition\u2019s 2023 semifinals. Although the U.S. got a free pass to this World Cup as a co-host, alongside Mexico and Canada, Pulisic scored five times during the grueling 2022 qualifying campaign.<\/p>\n
Yet he also had an underwhelming Copa Am\u00e9rica in 2024, as the U.S. crashed out in the group stage at home. He struggled to make an impact when the Americans slumped to fourth at the 2025 Nations League, then drew criticism from Coach Mauricio Pochettino for skipping last summer\u2019s Gold Cup in the name of rest and recovery. All the while, a pesky notion took hold that Pulisic was saving his best soccer for his blue-blooded Italian employer.<\/p>\n
The swashbuckling performance Friday put such talk to rest. Although his early departure raised some alarms, Pulisic called the decision \u201ca little bit of precaution\u201d and indicated that he should be in the lineup for the second group stage game against Australia on Friday in Seattle.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust got a bit of a kick in the first half,\u201d Pulisic said. \u201cSo I\u2019m really hoping that it\u2019s nothing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pulisic could afford to be cautious, which is newsworthy. This American attack is exponentially more talented than the aging bunch he played alongside as a prodigious teen. Balogun and Ricardo Pepi are the lethal center forwards the U.S. long desired. McKennie, Reyna and Malik Tillman can carve out chances with the best of them. Weah, Antonee Robinson and Sergi\u00f1o Dest offer threats from the flanks.<\/p>\n
But there\u2019s a reason Pulisic, whether he likes it or not, is on another hype level altogether. No other U.S. player flirts with \u201cworld class\u201d quite like the shy Pennsylvanian. If the Americans want to play deep into the summer, they\u2019ll need Pulisic at his defense-unnerving best.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll in all, just an incredible start,\u201d Pulisic said. \u201cBut there\u2019s a lot more that we still have to do.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The U.S. team\u2019s electric 4-1 win over Paraguay – capped by Gio Reyna\u2019s exclamation point of a second-half…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":702710,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[23,303792,303793,7183,303794,303795,303796,3,403,21,19,22,20,25,24,303797,303798,282534,303799,303800],"class_list":["post-702709","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-states","tag-america","tag-canada2026","tag-canada26","tag-fifa","tag-futbol","tag-mexico2026","tag-mexico26","tag-news","tag-soccer","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa","tag-usa2026","tag-usa26","tag-worldcup","tag-worldcup2026","tag-worldcup26"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/702709","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=702709"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/702709\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/702710"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=702709"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=702709"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=702709"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}