SAN JOSE, Costa Rica — Since stepping onto the international soccer stage six years ago, Christian Pulisic has parlayed Bundesliga grooming into Premier League prosperity and, in the past 10 months, UEFA Champions League and FIFA Club World Cup medals.
He is U.S. soccer’s most famous player, a 23-year-old sensation who, through skill-set and pro ascent, has helped shed the stigma that American attackers can’t cut it at the highest levels of Europe.
His next salient act will come Wednesday, when, barring a six-goal defeat to Costa Rica on the last day of Concacaf regional competition, Pulisic and the men’s national team will qualify for the World Cup.