He is the player you follow on TV if you don't know anything about soccer.
He is Christian Pulisic -- the new Captain America, USMNT's best player, a Chelsea big-money flop and one of the brightest stars of the 2026 World Cup.
Christian Pulisic wants to feel like this in the World Cup
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Christian Pulisic has a once-in-a-lifetime moment in the 2026 World CupCredit: getty
Pulisic must pay off on his potential
Yet even that last part comes with a 'maybe,' since potential has been everything for Pulisic for years and the 5ft 10in forward from Hershey, Pennsylvania will walk into Los Angeles Stadium on Friday still shadowed by questions.
Is Pulisic, who recorded eight goals for fifth-place AC Milan in Serie A this season, going to score and score again for USMNT this summer?
Does he have the desire to publicly and privately carry Mauricio Pochettino's squad during the biggest sports tournament in history?
Will the four-time US Soccer Male Player of the Year finally make those honors pay off in a World Cup?
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"It's a strange one because for so many years we've been speaking about that p word: potential," USMNT correspondent Ben Jacobs exclusively told talkSPORT.
"But he's 27 years of age, peak age. And by the next World Cup, he'll be statistically past peak age, so this is the time for him to step up."
A confident goal and sharp assist during a warmup friendly vs Senegal might have been a breakthrough for Pulisic, who proudly slid to his knees while sporting red and white stripes.
"It's Pulisic with a goal! What a start for Christian Pulisic!" shouted an announcer.
Can Captain America handle the pressure?
But now Paraguay, Australia and Turkiye loom in Group D, while striker Folarin Balogun has been touted as the 'real' offensive star of a USA team that enters a massively expanded World Cup with serious boom-or-bust vibes.
"He's (Pulisic) a player that needs sort of no pressure, some calmness, and then he can perform, and that's why I think you see he is streaky," Brad Friedel, who earned 82 caps as a USMNT goalkeeper and spent 16 seasons in thePremier League, exclusively told talkSPORT.
It's time for Christian Pulisic to live up to his Captain America hype in the 2026 World Cup
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It's time for Pulisic to live up to his Captain America hypeCredit: getty
Christian Pulisic
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USMNT will need Pulisic firing to go far in the tournamentCredit: talksport
"When you have Christian at the top of his game, he's excellent. And he provides something for the US National Team that no other player can provide. But when he's not at the top of his game, you can tell very much. What ends up happening -- because we don't have another player like him on the field -- other teams can focus on him defensively.
"Balogun's season has really pleased me and he's really confident in his goal scoring form. So hopefully teams will have to put a little bit more of an eye on him."
Pulisic's parents played college soccer at George Mason.
He lived in Oxfordshire, England at 7, obtained a European passport at 16 and started playing for Dortmund in Bundesliga at the same age.
Still getting over a Chelsea bust
Pulisic has scored major goals in three of the best professional leagues in the world, and the fact that he's never played in MLS is a tribute to his global talent.
But the first American to play in a Champions League final is better known for a $73 million contract that never paid off on the pitch than Premier League dominance with Chelsea.
Coming to America
Pulisic scoring the lone goal in USMNT's 1-0 win over Iran in the 2022 World Cup was also more of an aberration than the norm.
Four years later, Captain America faces his defining World Cup on home soil.
Soccer is bigger than ever in America but still not viewed as a major sport.
USMNT reaching the quarterfinals will have new fans from Seattle and Los Angeles to Kansas City and Miami buzzing, yet failing to win a knockout game would remind supporters that Pulisic has never lived up to the hype.
Pulisic can change history of US soccer
He has the talent to be the best player in the history of US Soccer.
Pulisic will never receive a better platform to prove that he can carry the weight of America's shield.
Pulisic has been with AC Milan since 2023
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Pulisic has been with AC Milan since 2023Credit: Getty
"There will be a lot of pressure on him," Tab Ramos, who recorded 81 caps and eight goalsfor USMNT, exclusively told talkSPORT.
"He is expected to sort of put the team on his shoulders a little bit and carry us through the difficult moments. But I think he's capable of doing that and I think there's a calmness about him that I think the team will follow.
"I'm hoping the best for him because it truly is an opportunity where he can change the history of soccer in this country."
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