Pulisic graces TIME magazine cover and talks World Cup pressure plus attending prom the night before making USMNT history

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Martin Macdonald | Writer

Content writer covering football, formula 1 and movies

The pressure will be on USMNT boss Mauricio Pochettino and his squad as the United States are one of the hosts of the 2026 World Cup.

Due to their status as hosts, the team will be playing in front of expectant crowds on home territory which could bring inspiration as much as added pressure.

One of the players looking to make an impression is 'Captain America' himself, Christian Pulisic, generally considered the best American player and the attacking talisman on the field. He's the golden boy of American soccer and is the squad member with the most pressure on his shoulders heading into the World Cup due to his status as a player for one of the biggest clubs in Europe, AC Milan.

The former Chelsea forward started the season off superbly, too, with four goals and two assists in his first five Serie A games. He recovered well from a hamstring injury in October that saw him miss four games to score twice against Torino and then, crucially, the winner in the Milan derby versus Inter in November.

Unfortunately for Pulisic, his form has went off a cliff in 2026 as he hasn't found the back of the net in the league for 17 games stretching back to 28 December against Hellas Verona.

The USA have been drawn in Group D alongside Australia, Paraguay and Turkiye which is probably one of the tougher groups, while there is apprehension heading into the competition after two demoralising friendly losses - 5-2 versus Belgium and 2-0 versus Portugal.

“At the end of the day, if we go in and have a good World Cup, it’ll be all forgotten,” he tells TIME Magazine.

“Everyone will talk about how great we do. That’s just the way things go.”

Addressing his goalscoring drought directly, he says: “I plan on scoring goals. I’m not concerned about it, man.”

Pulisic's career

Pulisic made the brave decision to move to Borussia Dortmund at the age of just 15, leaving his home, his sister and his mother behind in Pennsylvania while he and his father embarked on a scary adventure to Germany.

He found it tough initially, with team-mates refusing to pass to him in the Dortmund youth sides, but powered through and eventually made his senior debut with BVB.

At the age of 17, he was called up to the USMNT by then-coach Jurgen Klinsmann.

Remarkably, he attended his senior prom in his former school in the US and then, the very next day, he made history by becoming the youngest goalscorer in the history of the American national team when he found the back of the net in a friendly versus Bolivia.

“Not a single person in my school ever talked about European soccer,” says Pulisic. “It was like, ‘The World Cup’s coming up. We can support the USA.’

"So for me, that was everything.”

They did fail to qualify for the 2018 World Cup in Russia but they did so in Qatar in 2022 and it was a Pulisic goal that sent them into the last-16.

Pulisic has had doubters among American pundits and became involved in a bit of a feud with legend Landon Donovan, who criticised the Milan star for skipping the Gold Cup last summer after a gruelling, injury-filled season in Italy.

Former USMNT star Alexi Lalas also said he was not the "leader the USMNT wants or needs" when discussing a potential 2026 World Cup captaincy.

He has support from his team-mates, including Juventus' Weston McKennie, who backed him to reclaim his goalscoring form this summer.

“He’s saving them all up for the World Cup,” McKennie said.

“He just tells me, ‘Man, I just feel like whenever I’ve been in this moment in my life, there’s just something big that happens. I feel like something big is going to happen for us.'

"I don’t think any of us are worried whether he’s going to be firing on all cylinders. Because at the end of the day, he always wants to do his best for us, for him, for the fans, for the country. It may not be clicking for him right now. But I have no doubt it will be at the World Cup.”

Pulisic became just the eighth soccer player in history to earn a solo cover on TIME Magazine after Lionel Messi, Mario Balotelli, Neymar, Kylian Mbappe, Mohamed Salah, Alex Morgan and Megan Rapinoe.