Christian Pulisic arrives at U.S. camps as the team’s unquestioned attacking focal point, a role that has sometimes forced him into situations that do not suit his game. The article calls this dynamic the “Pulisic paradox,” noting that for much of the last decade the U.S. has struggled the more its biggest star is asked to do everything on the ball.
Pulisic has acknowledged the pressure on himself. “Sometimes I put too much pressure on myself that I need to do something special where I just need to play the best I can,” he said in 2022, adding that he had at times been “overthinking it and trying to be too good in a way that’s not necessary.” His off-ball movement has been a strength throughout his career; Frank Lampard praised Pulisic’s ability at “arriving in the box” during his Chelsea years.
Those strengths were less evident at last summer’s World Cup. Pulisic finished the tournament without a goal and did not rank among his team’s top five players for expected goals. He was credited with six passes received inside the penalty area — 10 fewer than midfielder Weston McKennie — and his four shots matched those of defender Alex Freeman.
Into that context has come 17-year-old Cavan Sullivan, the Philadelphia Union forward who earned his first senior call-up last month and scored on his international debut against Mexico. The source text portrays Sullivan as comfortable in the spotlight and arriving at a moment when the national team is seeking more on-ball creativity to feed Pulisic’s well-timed runs.
Gregg Berhalter, speaking on a former USMNT manager podcast cited in the article, emphasized Pulisic’s scoring from late arrivals in the box and questioned how often that happened at the World Cup. The piece suggests Sullivan’s arrival and the pair’s presence together in camp could give coaches additional options to better marry Pulisic’s off-ball strengths with on-ball creation elsewhere on the field.
