Exclusive: Christian Pulisic Reveals His Mindset Entering the World Cup
Christian Pulisic had not scored for AC Milan or the United States men’s national team in nearly six months.
To end 2025, Pulisic netted eight goals in a four-month span for Milan, but nobody wanted to talk about that. His looming scoring drought became a nationwide fixation, mostly in the tenor of panic that he wouldn’t be able to put the USMNT on his back for the fast-approaching 2026 FIFAWorld Cup.
Pulisic never panicked. He knew the goals would come. He perpetually found the back of the net, long before he emerged as a teenage soccer American prodigy - plucked from his hometown Hershey, Pennsylvania, by Borussia Dortmund in the German Bundesliga. More importantly, he knew he impacted the game far beyond his goal tally.
So when he snapped the drought with a sensational goal in the USMNT’s win over Senegal - preceded by an equally dazzling assist - in their international friendly last Sunday, Pulisic fell to his knees and roared.
Adrenaline.
Joy.
And relief.
Not because he ever feared he’d lost his touch, but because he knew that he hadn’t. He knew that he could. He always had, and he’d done it again.
This is about more than just goals, of course. It’s about a boy who grew up surrounded by chocolate and soccer and developed a sweet tooth for both. He has worked tirelessly toward living his childhood dream, and now, it’s knocking at his door.
Hershey is trademarked as “The Sweetest Place on Earth,” and what could possibly be sweeter than playing in the World Cup on home soil? Pulisic and the USMNT will find out when they open against Paraguay at Los Angeles’ SoFi Stadium on June 12.
As the World Cup draws nearer, Pulisic has partnered with Hershey’s for the limited-edition “PULISIC’s Milk Chocolate Bars.” He spoke with Newsweek about his Hershey childhood, his recently snapped scoring drought, and his World Cup mindset. Read below.
Newsweek: We're here because of the World Cup, but we're also here because of your partnership with Hershey's. You grew up in Hershey, Pennsylvania. How impossible was it to avoid chocolate growing up?
Christian Pulisic: Pretty much impossible. I mean, from my house, you could smell the chocolate, even more so when it rained. Like, literally, smell the chocolate. That was just normal. I spent so many days at Hershey’s Chocolate World and Hersheypark - constantly going there with my friends and family. That was just part of the culture. It’s a special town.
NW: More seriously, what ran through your mind when you saw your name on a Hershey's chocolate bar?
Pulisic: Yeah, that really shocked me, to be honest. It’s been so special, for obvious reasons, working with Hershey’s. Just seeing that and being able to show it to my mom and brother. They think that’s the coolest thing in the world, and so do I. I just never pictured something like that.
NW: Your parents were soccer players at George Mason before they were your parents. What have they said about watching their son in a home World Cup?
Pulisic: My dad normally gets pretty nervous. Probably my mom, too. But they’re just so excited. They’re gonna bring my grandma. My aunts and uncles are gonna be there. They’re just excited for this moment - just to support USA and travel and watch a World Cup [where] their son in playing in it. I hope they’re proud.
NW: Everyone is projecting their feelings about the World Cup onto you. How do you feel about it?
Pulisic: Honestly, I just feel like a kid who has this dream, and it’s right in front of me here. I just have such a crazy opportunity in front of me to do something special with this team. That’s how I feel. I’m so excited for it. I really don’t have much else to say.
Of course, there’s pressures and things outside going on, but I’m just trying to live in this moment and enjoy it as much as I can. It’s not every day you get to play in a World Cup, especially in your home country.
NW: What makes this particular 26-man group special?
Pulisic: I played with some of the guys since I was 13, 14 years old. I’ve known some of them for so long. In the last World Cup, I got to play with a lot of them. It’s just a group that’s been so close, and we’re constantly staying in touch. We’re doing stuff together off the field as well. It’s just a group that’s ready to go to battle together. It feels like a big family, and that’s why it’s so enjoyable to play here.
NW: When did you first realize you had a knack for scoring goals?
Pulisic: A pretty young age. As a baby, I was watching my dad play professionally, and he was scoring goals, so I think I knew that was what I always wanted to be. I watched a lot of soccer growing up, and the most excited part to me was just always creating and scoring goals. I just loved it. It was probably when I was 12, 13, and 14 that I started to realize that I was actually pretty good at it.
NW: You've been playing high-level world football for over a decade, and any full career involves droughts by virtue of doing something for a long time, so people treating your most recent scoring slump as the end of the world felt short-sighted and likely only because it came before a World Cup. So, instead, I'm more keen to ask how you've learned to work through those inevitable droughts over the years.
Pulisic: By, I guess, just not panicking. Keeping the same work ethic and not necessarily trying to reinvent the wheel. I try to stick with my same process. I went through a run right before this where I couldn’t stop scoring, so that’s just kind of how it goes. There’s going to be times like that.
Obviously, you want to find as much consistency as you can. That’s the goal. I’m just always trying to improve every single day. Be patient. I think that’s the only advice I can give.
NW: While everyone else overreacts, how do you stop yourself from spiraling?
Pulisic: It’s like I said: It’s just keeping up my routine. For me, having my support system around is what helps me the most. It allows me to honestly take my mind off the game. That’s the easiest thing for me - talking to my best friends and family. Sometimes, allowing myself to be a bit distracted because when I overthink it, that’s when things get worse.
NW: Does having won the Champions League with Chelsea in 2021 and playing regularly in big-time matches for AC Milan in Serie A help you prepare to perform on the World Cup stage, or are those two separate processes?
Pulisic: It absolutely does. I think all of these experiences help, for sure. Playing in big matches, you’re always going to feel pregame nerves and anxiety, but I think having played in big matches and overcome them and knowing I’ve had success in some of them, it can only help. It just relaxes you in those moments. At least, it allows me to go back, remember how I felt, and say, “You know what? I overcame it, and we did great, and I just believe we can do it again.”
NW: Have you noticed any differences within yourself in the lead-up to this World Cup versus the lead-up to your first World Cup in Qatar in 2022?
Pulisic: I just didn’t know what to expect going into the last one, being my first World Cup. It just feels like such a big moment. Obviously, it was a lot of differences because it was midseason and in a country that I had never been to. It was a lot different in preparation.
Having already played in one, being now in the summer, and being able to go back to the U.S., everything just seems a lot easier. I guess the preparation has been easier in that way.
NW: What needs to happen for you to remember this World Cup as a success?
Pulisic: To be honest, I just want to be able to look back on it whenever it’s done and have zero regrets and feel like we gave everything as a team. I don’t think it’s necessary to pick how far we have to go for it to be a success or not. I think there’s so many other metrics that we can judge it by.
Of course, we want to win the World Cup. You’re never gonna be excited anytime you go out. For us, I just think it’s looking back with no regrets and feeling like we left everything out there. If we do that, I feel like we can look back and at least be proud.
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This story was originally published June 4, 2026 at 1:34 PM.