It is only 20 days before kickoff at the 2026 FIFA World Cup—confidently projected to be the most-watched sporting event ever televised, and one already being hyped by President Trump as both the “greatest and safest sporting event in American history” and “a once in a lifetime opportunity to showcase the beauty and the greatness of America”—but Christian Pulisic is, at least on the face of things, feeling quite relaxed.
“I get texts from my family and close friends—they’re definitely all excited about it, for sure,” Pulisic says, hanging out in sweats after practice for his Italian club team, AC Milan. “I mean, I feel like I’m constantly playing in big games. For me personally, it’s not like all that much is changing. It’s just another big tournament, to be honest.”
Even for a guy as low-key as Pulisic, that’s a surprising statement. Playing in the first men’s World Cup on home soil in 32 years (okay, cohosted with Mexico and Canada, but still) would be a pinch-me moment for any US player. For Pulisic, who at 27 goes by the nickname “Captain America” and has been the closest thing to a physical embodiment of the country’s soccer hopes for a decade now, it may well be career-defining. He’s not even touched the ball and pundits are already throwing around words like “legacy.” If any player could reasonably describe this World Cup as “just another big tournament,” Pulisic is not one of them.
And yet when we speak over Zoom one late May evening, Pulisic is the picture of calm: full beard, hair tousled, no longer the fresh-faced wonderkid who broke onto the national team at age 17, but a visibly seasoned veteran three years into his third major European club. If he does harbor any nerves, he is hiding it well. He says that he hasn’t altered his training regimen (“no major changes”) or diet (“hasn’t changed much”) before the big event. In fact, you’d be hard-pressed to find any evidence that the World Cup was even happening. “A lot of people are trying to make it even more than it is. I get it, it’s a huge tournament,” he says, shrugging. “I’m looking forward to it.”
Why, what did you expect him to say? That in truth this has been one of the most frustrating years of Pulisic’s career? That he has hasn’t scored a goal for AC Milan in 2026 (in 20 matches), and only just yesterday netted his first for the US national team since 2024, breaking an eight-match goalless streak? Pulisic has never been a player to speak openly about his feelings. But it’s true: Pulisic last found the net for Milan in December, when the Rossoneri were top of Serie A. But a run of poor form and injuries to star players, Pulisic included, led to the team sliding painfully down the table, losing seven of their last 13. When we speak, with only one game remaining in the season, Milan is on the verge of missing out on the Champions League for the second year running, a humiliation by the legendary club’s standards. “I think in the first half of the season, personally and as a team, we played really well and had really good moments,” Pulisic says, in typically understated fashion. “The second half definitely was more difficult, on both levels.”