The U.S. needs Christian Pulisic to peak at this World Cup. So far, so good.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. — Christian Pulisic was, for 45 minutes Friday night, an unrelenting menace.
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He orchestrated the Americans’ opening strike against Paraguay seven minutes in, when he split two defenders, steered the ball to teammate Weston McKennie and watched a ricochet create an own goal. Moments later, he used his acceleration to draw a yellow card on Paraguay’s Juan José Cáceres. When Pulisic set up Folarin Balogun in the 28th minute, only for an offside call to wash out the tally, it mattered not: He darted down the left side three minutes later and picked out Balogun for the second U.S. goal.
By the time Pulisic exited at halftime, coming off as a precaution with a left calf knock, Balogun had netted another and the Americans had equaled their output from the entire 2022 tournament.
The U.S. team’s electric 4-1 win over Paraguay — capped by Gio Reyna’s 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’s unassuming catalyst.
And even if Pulisic, long the United States’ best hope for a global soccer star, didn’t 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.
“Christian was cooking, man,” defender Chris Richards said. “When Christian’s on his game, he’s a tough guy to stop.”
“He was so sharp,” wingback Tim Weah observed. “He’s been looking sharp in training, and he showed that today.”
“That Christian,” midfielder Sebastian Berhalter added, “is a scary Christian.”
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.
Addressing the expectations two weeks ago at the squad’s roster reveal in New York, he could only laugh and shrug. “I mean, there’s pressure,” he mused. “It’s a World Cup.” In a recent GQ interview he raised eyebrows by calling the North America-hosted spectacle “just another big tournament.” Asked Thursday morning to compare this go-around to the 2022 tournament in Qatar, Pulisic doubled down.
“I think it’s the same,” Pulisic said. “It has that big game feel, for sure, similarly. But in some ways I feel a little bit more relaxed.”
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’s spark isn’t entirely plugged in.
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 only recorded eight this season, and none since the new year.
“I mean, I feel that I’ve been playing at a decent level for a while,” Pulisic said. “I am so honored to be here, representing my country, playing in the World Cup. I don’t need any more motivation.”
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It’s unlikely Pulisic will ever take World Cup matches for granted. He’d 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.
“I can’t even imagine the weight that’s on his shoulders,” midfielder Tyler Adams said. “From such a young age, he was the hope of American soccer.”
But the rest of the team’s youthful core, which arrived after Pulisic developed from teen prodigy to precocious veteran, sees only a quiet but reliable star.
“Christian shows up whenever he needs to show up,” McKennie said. “I’ve mentioned in the past — months ago, with the people criticizing and being worried about whether he’s going to be in form or not in form for the World Cup — that he’s going to show up.”
There’s truth to this. Pulisic netted the extra-time winner against Mexico in the 2021 CONCACAF Nations League title game, and scored twice against that regional rival in the competition’s 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.
Yet he also had an underwhelming Copa América 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’s 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.
The swashbuckling performance Friday put such talk to rest. Although his early departure raised some alarms, Pulisic called the decision “a little bit of precaution” and indicated that he should be in the lineup for the second group stage game against Australia on Friday in Seattle.
“Just got a bit of a kick in the first half,” Pulisic said. “So I’m really hoping that it’s nothing.”
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 Sergiño Dest offer threats from the flanks.
But there’s a reason Pulisic, whether he likes it or not, is on another hype level altogether. No other U.S. player flirts with “world class” quite like the shy Pennsylvanian. If the Americans want to play deep into the summer, they’ll need Pulisic at his defense-unnerving best.
“All in all, just an incredible start,” Pulisic said. “But there’s a lot more that we still have to do.”
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