It’s no exaggeration to say that Papa Pulisic gave birth to football in this country. Allegedly, the game has always been around these parts and existed in one way or another. 1820But for decades we may have been obsessed with the idea of football, but every four years we play footsie and impulsively spend money on a Cristiano Ronaldo jersey and watch it. While wearing to brunch. Which team will he play for again? — We have never truly embraced the game.
That was before your dad finished the job he started generations ago and made us true football fans.
Stop for a minute, I’m glad you’re here, boy. We were afraid you didn’t exist. Or to be born with the imprint of the Iranian goalkeeper’s knee on the forehead.
It was the final group stage match against Iran, the most important US Men’s National Team competition in almost a decade. your dad bet everything Score the goal that saved America. There was a clash between your pops and the keepers and it was very painful. They said your dad had a “pelvic contusion”. But we watched the video, champ. And with a blow below the belt, we were fed up with the future of the jewels of the Pulisic family.
“I didn’t hit the ball,” your father told the world.
Wow! That’s why you’re here (hopefully), living in an America where football is loved, a breeding ground for the nation’s most promising young athletes, and most importantly, accessible to all.
before your father we No At least not consistently. one game before he sacrificed his crotch for his countrythe match against England The most-watched men’s soccer game in U.S. television history — and it still got less than half the audience regular season NFL games the next day.
We were proud of our ignorance. Why do they always fall and pretend to be stabbed in the shin by invisible elves?, we stupidly ask. Now I know it’s just part of the game. In fact, the flop is as much a tactic as crossing the ball. I think we love flops now. More than that, we understand it. Long ago, in 2022, we didn’t get it.
This probably explains why the commentators on Fox’s World Cup pre-match show thought football needed to be dumbed down for us. I did.For example, former US soccer hero Clint Dempsey Other sports metaphors Explain what happened on the field — i.e. pitchOr when Alexi Lalas blurts out how players get “Wally Pipped” Before the war against Wales.
You, the young descendant of Pulisic, may not know the reference. You may be familiar with it in its present form. “Gio Reinado”
Indeed, there were plenty of people in that niche scarf-wearing community who didn’t have to google the name “Gio Reyna.” Football had its roots here. They just didn’t run deep.
When World Cup mania landed in America in 1994 and Major League Soccer was born, some Americans became interested in the game. By 1999, momentum skyrocketed into a full-blown sensation when Brandi’s Chastain penalty her strike gave the United States a victory in the Women’s World Cup. Sports bras are for the cool girl, and she had a few more championships in 2015 and her 2019. You probably don’t realize this, little children, but US dominance in the women’s game predates your existence. did not receive any compensation for landmark case.
Still, in years when there were no big tournaments to revitalize the country, our positive enthusiasm for the sport waned. There’s a reason there are too many millennials named “Jordan,” “Peyton,” and “Jaylen.” Her 5-year-olds in the suburbs looked adorable while bumping into each other on the grass field, but worse, pitch — The pipeline seemed to be clogged and blocked all the time. Many of our fastest and strongest prospects focus on soccer, basketball, softball and even track and field.
it changed everything The young stars of the 2022 teamRemember the legend of Weston McKennie and Tyler Adams. A pair of black American boys who grew up in the MLS academy and skipped college. before going to europeThen of course your dad is a pip-sized genius born in Hershey, Pennsylvania.? YouTube highlights video, he was like fate Become the face of American soccerThat was before he moved to Germany at the age of 16 and then blossomed into a stud with Chelsea and mature “captain America.”
Its US roster was the best in the world, with starters and regulars from more advanced European leagues all over its roster. It opened its doors to millions of girls, but it needed a collection of America’s most talented men’s soccer players to take the game to new heights.
Thanks to your Dad and their 2022 team, we were able to watch the beautiful game with people from all over the world. Lil Pulisic, you live in a world where football highlights lead the ‘SportsCenter’. (Or as it’s called “SportsCentre” in America, because it’s flashy now.)
It’s a world NWSL women no longer need to hold. side hustle while trying to earn a living wage or play for male coaches who marched as greasy overlord.
A world where short men no longer have to lie about their height on the hinge. Society looks at little guys differently these days.
“It’s a big sport now,” forward Tim Ware boldly proclaimed when asked about football’s prominence in America just days before the knockout rounds. It’s up to you.”
If they lose to Holland on Saturday, don’t let the future Prissix see this. Above football paradise? Yeah, it never happened, or at least it will be created over the years. And the next Pulisic grew up in the same old “Merica” ten years from now, ready to see the NFL’s Wednesday night big game on the moon between the Dallas Cowboys and the Washington Fightin’ Bezosis. But wouldn’t it be nice if all of this was true?
