When Christian Pulisic broke onto the scene with the USMNT and with Borussia Dortmund, I was hesitant to give him that “next American superstar” moniker that had been placed on so many people and couldn’t keep up with that hype and pressure.
Now, Pulisic has shown that he is a different player than any American who has come before him. Sunday night, 60 Minutes profiled the 19-year-old from Hershey, PA. To some soccer fans, being profiled on 60 Minutes isn’t a big deal but it’s a huge deal considering it’s still one of the most watched shows on TV and the vast majority watching have still probably never heard of Pulisic.
The profile goes into Pulisic’s upbringing in Hershey, through competing against kids bigger than him in the youth ranks, to going to Germany to sign with Borussia Dortmund. While there, Pulisic enrolled in a school that only spoke German, so he needed to learn German and became fluent within a year.
The piece is very eye-opening even for those who know everything about Pulisic or don’t even know him at all. This week may be Pulisic’s biggest test yet, because failure will mean missing the World Cup for the first time since 1986. The USMNT will face Panama on Friday and then end the Hex in Trinidad and Tobago next Tuesday.
What happens if the U.S. doesn’t go to the World Cup? Will Alexi Lalas go nuts on live television?