{"id":4573,"date":"2026-06-11T22:34:42","date_gmt":"2026-06-11T22:34:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/?p=4573"},"modified":"2026-06-11T22:34:42","modified_gmt":"2026-06-11T22:34:42","slug":"with-one-world-cup-behind-them-christian-pulisic-and-the-usa-are-ready-for-paraguay","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/?p=4573","title":{"rendered":"With One World Cup Behind Them, Christian Pulisic And The USA Are &#039;Ready&#039; For Paraguay"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"subnav-title ff-ffc bold fs-23 lh-25 uc pd-b-10\">\n            POPULAR SEARCHES\n          <\/p>\n<p class=\"subnav-title ff-ffc bold fs-23 lh-25 uc pd-b-10\">\n            BROWSE BY\n          <\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-a2155f14><strong>U.S. World Cup Team Training Base (IRVINE, Calif.) <\/strong>\u2014<strong> <\/strong>Had it not been for the huge throng of reporters jockeying to ask Christian Pulisic even one question ahead of the biggest moment of what is already well on the way to being the most decorated soccer career of any American man in history, it might have seemed like a normal day.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-a2155f14>Pulisic, the Stars and Stripes headliner since he was before he was old enough to drive, was calm. He playfully chided the assembled media members as they shouted their queries over each other and toward the now 27-year-old. &#8220;Jeez,&#8221; Pulisic joked. &#8220;Let me talk.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-a2155f14>Since he broke into the national team more than a decade ago, the pride of Hersey, Penn. has done his talking with his feet. He\u2019s averaged more goals per game than all-time U.S. greats Clint Dempsey and Landon Donovan, the joint top scorers in program history. Five years ago, while playing for English Premier League titans Chelsea, he became the first American to play in and win the UEFA Champions League.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-a2155f14>Pulisic\u2019s international teammates let him down in 2017, when the U.S. failed even to tie already-eliminated Trinidad and Tobago and missed the following year&#8217;s World Cup. (Of course, Pulisic scored the only goal for his country in the 2-1 loss.) And it was his strike against Iran that sent the USA to the knockout stage at his first World Cup four years in Qatar \u2014 and sent Pulisic to the hospital after colliding with Team Melli\u2019s keeper in the process.<\/p>\n<p><span>(Photo by Marvin Ibo Guengoer &#8211; GES Sportfoto\/Getty Images)<\/span> <\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-a2155f14>There aren\u2019t many first left for the AC Milan standout. But he\u2019ll get one on Friday, when the World Cup co-hosts \u2014 the U.S. is staging the biggest version ever with Canada and Mexico \u2014 open their Group D slate against Paraguay in Los Angeles \u2014 kick off their Group D slate against Paraguay.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-a2155f14>&#8220;In some ways I feel a little bit more relaxed,&#8221; than in 2022, Pulisic told me and my colleagues before coach Maurico Pochettino rans the Americans through their final training session at Great Park, about an hour south of LA. &#8220;Been there before, and we&#8217;ve played in a match like this. So I think the experience has calmed me down a bit.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-a2155f14>Still, this time is different. For the first time since 1994, the U.S. will play as the home team. Though thousands of Paraguayan supporters will no doubt be in attendance, a mostly partisan crowd is expected inside the 70,000-seat stadium.<\/p>\n<p><span>(Ronaldo Bolanos \/ Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)<\/span> <!--&gt;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-a2155f14>\"I'm gonna look around, I'm gonna try to take it in,\" Pulisic said. \"I\u2019ll have friends and family in the stands. It's a it's a special moment, so I want to try to enjoy it.\"<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-a2155f14>It\u2019s a double-edged sword. What matters most, for any team in any World Cup, is performing. Points are hard to come by. Four years ago the Americans squandered a first-half lead in their curtain-raiser with Wales, settling for a 1-1 tie. Even after another tie against mighty England, they needed to beat Iran in the first round finale to advance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-a2155f14>Those lessons have stuck. Qatar was the first World Cup experience for all but one U.S. player in Qatar. Now half of Pochettino\u2019s 26-strong squad are holdovers from four years ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-a2155f14>\"it helps for sure,\" Pulisic said \"How much I don't know. I guess we're gonna see, but I feel I feel confident. I feel ready. I think the team feels ready. I'd say we've improved a lot.\"<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-a2155f14>That should help, too. For all the pressure on Pulisic, he doesn\u2019t bear it alone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-a2155f14>\"Now we have weapons around him to kind of relieve that,\" midfielder Tyler Adams said. \"He's a star, not just for the US national team, but in world football. He's that good. So we rely on him in big moments, but that being said, I hope he doesn't feel the pressure to carry it all.\"<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-a2155f14>\"A good team,\" Pulisic said, \"Makes me a better player.\"<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span>(Photo by Jamie Squire\/Getty Images)<\/span> --><\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-a2155f14>Winning on Friday could turn any pressure into confidence, into momentum. The hope is that it snowballs into something special. The U.S. has reached the quarterfinals just once since the inaugural 1930 World Cup.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-a2155f14>Not that Pulisic is looking past Friday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-a2155f14>&#8220;We\u2019re so highly focused on this big game,&#8221; he said. &#8220;You just want to do well, and you want to perform and get that first game \u2014 especially that weight \u2014 off your shoulders.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-a2155f14>&#8220;I want to help the team, of course. They expect a lot out of me. But with the guys I have around me, honestly, it makes it a lot easier for me.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-a2155f14>&#8220;I\u2019m gonna give the best I can..&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>POPULAR SEARCHES BROWSE BY U.S. World Cup Team Training Base (IRVINE, Calif.) \u2014 Had it not been for the huge throng of reporters jockeying to ask Christian Pulisic even one question ahead of the biggest moment of what is already well on the way to being the most decorated soccer career of any American man [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":4572,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4573","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-soccer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4573","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4573"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4573\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4572"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4573"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4573"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4573"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}