USMNT World Cup Daily, Day 3
Christian Pulisic speaks, Matt Turner tells his injury story and Gio Reyna blanches at the U.S.'s 10 pm local kickoff times
DOHA, Qatar — My Uber driver from Pakistan was fired up as he dropped me off at our destination. I had just informed him that we were outside the training site for the U.S. World Cup team, and he kept saying the same thing over and over.
“You mean Pulisic is right in there?!?” he said, pointing at the modest Al Gharafa Stadium. “Pulisic is here?”
It hit me that the U.S. has probably never had a soccer player until Christian Pulisic who would get a Pakistani driver in Qatar excited over his presence being near. Maybe Tim Howard during his Manchester United days? Maybe?
Pulisic, 24, has won a Champions League with Chelsea, and he is hardly the only important player on this U.S. team, the youngest in the World Cup. But he is the biggest U.S. male star in the global game. And when he speaks to the media, as he did today, five days before the U.S. World Cup opener against Wales, he gets treated like it, with plenty of questions about playing in his first World Cup.