ARLINGTON, Texas – In the Golden Boy days, when Christian Pulisic’s voice was soft and his thick, dark hair was always manicured, there were times when he procrastinated.
As a teenager, he was already the face of the US men’s national team. But when he first put on a captain’s armband at the age of 20, he “didn’t really know what to do.” So he tried to lead by example, which can sometimes be euphemistic because you’re not really leading at all. He often ceded the floor and responsibility to USMNT elders, partly out of respect, partly because he was an introverted young adult still trying to find his place in the world.
But over the past five years, Pulisic has found himself. He has become the “Captain America” his country craved. He has become the main goal creator, but also the cornerstone, a 25-year-old who is “very comfortable with who he is, very comfortable within this group, and is a leader in his own way, in his own way. an authentic leader,” said his head coach, Gregg Berhalter, on the eve of the 2024 Copa América.
His leadership was on display during the USMNT’s Copa opener, and perhaps more so throughout this month than ever before.
He propelled his team to a stabilizing draw against Brazil on June 12, then took an early lead against Bolivia on Sunday.
“That,” teammate Tyler Adams told Yahoo Sports after Pulisic led the USMNT to a 2-0 victory, “was a captain’s performance.”
And Adams added: “Everyone is going to talk about the goal and the assist he got, but also what he did [defensively] was so important to our team. Because when people see players like [Pulisic] If you do that, everyone wants to do it.”
However, his leadership is no longer solely a function of unparalleled talent and his play. Yes, Pulisic is playing the best football of his life, but he knows his job doesn’t end when the whistle blows and the lights dim. He knows that part of his job is to “expect more.” [teammates], who demand the highest level at all times”, both in their hotel and on the training field. He has always tried to do that with actions; In recent years he has also learned this with carefully chosen words.
“He’s just more vocal. He is a lot louder,” said Tim Ream when asked how Pulisic has risen to captaincy. “He speaks his mind much more, sets the standards and demands more from everyone.”
And when he speaks, several teammates say, everyone listens.
When they wrap their arms around each other in their locker room minutes before kickoff, and when Berhalter cedes the floor to Pulisic for a terse pregame speech, “people are watching him, people are listening,” Adams said. “And people want to follow him.”
Pulisic’s few words carry weight, and his silence speaks volumes
For as long as Pulisic and those around him can remember, he has been a relatively shy, reserved person. He was almost always the best player on his soccer teams as a pre-teen and teenager, but he was “rarely” the captain, he said in a 2022 book. So when an interim coach presented Pulisic with the USMNT armband in 2018, it was a fit not exactly in a natural way.
When Berhalter took over a few months later, he began delegating responsibility to a “leadership council.” Pulisic was a member, but not the figurehead. He wore the bracelet occasionally, but not always. At 20 or 21, he neither needed nor necessarily wanted the captaincy, which can be both a privilege and a burden. He was a leader in the sense that colleagues looked up to him and looked to him for impetus on the field. But he was not, and never has been, an outgoing human connector or an aggressive rah-rah speaker.
In that sense, he was never Tyler Adams.
“I yell at everyone 24/7,” Adams said with a smile on Sunday.
Adams is the quintessential captain and was chosen by his teammates to wear the armband during the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
However, in the eighteen months since, Adams has been frequently injured and absent. Pulisic has always been present. He took on the role, adapted to it and put his own stamp on it.
He’s still “not the loudest guy,” as goalie Ethan Horvath said. “But to be a captain you don’t have to be the most vocal.” Pulisic has taken on the role in the middle and has remained true to himself, choosing his moments to say something.
After last year’s CONCACAF Nations League semi-final, a fiery 3-0 win over Mexico, he sat shirtless behind his locker and felt the atmosphere was a little too triumphant. As interim coach BJ Callaghan implored the players to enjoy the victory, Pulisic interjected: “And be humble about it, guys. Enjoy it tonight, enjoy it tonight, but we are here to win the final. We are here to beat Canada.”
“That’s a great point,” Callaghan said.
Sure enough, three days later they gathered arm in arm in the same locker room. “Christian, take us away,” Callgahan said during the pre-match conversation. Pulisic spoke three calm sentences. He then led them onto the field, where they defeated Canada.
Because he is a man of few words, the words he speaks can feel more meaningful. And sometimes he hardly needs to speak to convey what he wants or feels. Sometimes, Ream said, “you see the look on his face.” At other times, all you have to do is watch it fly through the field and follow it.
“He is a man,” midfielder Luca de la Torre told Yahoo Sports, “who leads to performance.”
“We need to build some confidence and feel good about this, but the games are just getting harder and harder.” @JennyTaft catches up @USMNT‘s Christian Pulisic after his huge match against Bolivia ⬇️🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/sokErFmpf0
— FOX Football (@FOXSoccer) June 24, 2024
‘This is a big moment’
He led in the aftermath of the USMNT’s embarrassing 5-1 loss to Colombia earlier this month.
Four days later he came out swinging against Brazil, first with a hard foul, then with a goal from a free kick.
“He sets a really good tone,” Berhalter said – both during games and practices.
“He is a selfless leader,” Berhalter added a day later. “He goes out there and just participates, works really hard and then helps the team. And then you add [that] the fact that he is very skilled, can play attacking and create chances attacking is a great combination. And what you see is that he supports his teammates, he supports guys, he pushes guys.”
He did all Sunday here at AT&T Stadium. After the best season of his young career with AC Milan in Italy, he kicked off the Copa América with a beautiful goal in less than three minutes. He later assisted Folarin Balogun’s goal, putting the match in jeopardy just before half-time.
And after half-time he appeared to speak positively to Ricardo Pepi after one of Pepi’s several missed chances. “As a striker the problem is that you don’t get chances,” Pulisic said after Pepi’s match. “He’s going to score at a big moment.”
He led the USMNT with actions and words, toward three points, and with emotion. An hour after the game, he was asked about the source of that emotion, and he almost chuckled at the question, as if the answer was obvious.
“It’s Copa America. It is a big tournament,” he said. So as Captain America, he will obviously rise to the occasion. “This,” Pulisic said, “is a big moment.”
