But behind this transatlantic journey lies an increasingly clear political stance in support of Donald Trump. He is, in many ways, a representation of the contradictions dividing the United States today.
His name is Christian Mate Pulisic. The middle name Mate, a Croatian name, already says a lot. The man known as "Captain America", the most marketable face of American football, is in reality the product of a deeply European story.
And this paradox, never truly resolved, became even more striking when he chose to politicise his image in support of a man whose politics are, among other things, based on suspicion of anything foreign.
An American with transatlantic roots
Pulisic's paternal grandfather was Croatian and his paternal grandmother is Sicilian. This grandfather, named Mate, passed on both his middle name and Croatian nationality to him, which meant a European passport.
It was this passport that enabled him to join the under-17 team of Borussia Dortmund in 2015.
Even before Dortmund, the Pulisic family had already made the journey to Europe. At the age of seven, he moved to England with his parents for a year, where he joined the youth team of Brackley Town FC. His mother, a teacher, had received an exchange scholarship.
When Pulisic arrived at Dortmund at sixteen, he entered one of the most demanding academies in Europe. After three seasons in Germany, where he became one of the best wingers in the Bundesliga, Chelsea paid £58 million to secure his services.
This was followed by difficult years in England, then a revival at AC Milan. His entire professional training, his whole top-level career, was built outside the United States: in Germany, England and Italy. He is the antithesis of a 'made in USA' player.
Conflicting political signals
For a long time, Pulisic maintained a calculated ambiguity about his political beliefs. But the clues piled up. In 2022, he registered to vote in Pennsylvania as a Republican. Before that, he had been spotted liking pro-Donald Trump posts on Instagram, including one calling for antifas to be shot.
The turning point came in November 2024. After scoring against Jamaica in the CONCACAF Nations League, Pulisic headed to the corner flag and started swinging his hips and pumping his fists to mimic the dance associated with Donald Trump.
His teammates Weston McKennie and Ricardo Pepi immediately joined in. The US Soccer Federation did not comment officially but deleted the footage from its social media. Federation employees expressed their dismay to The Athletic, stating, "Honestly, no one here is surprised. But it's still really disappointing."
Asked after the match, Pulisic played innocent. "I've seen loads of people do it in the NFL. We just wanted to have fun. I thought it was a cool dance.
"It's not a political dance. It was just for a laugh. I've seen loads of people do it, I thought it was funny, so I went with the moment."
The explanation left many observers unconvinced. Former international goalkeeper Tim Howard called for Pulisic to "own" his support for Trump rather than pretend innocence.
"If you want to make a political statement, be brave enough to stand by it. Don't play dumb and plead ignorance like Christian Pulisic."
"Not enough Americans": a first controversial statement
In reality, the dance episode was no surprise to anyone who closely follows this USMNT. Two years earlier, in June 2022, Pulisic had already let slip a remark that caused a stir. After a 3-0 win over Morocco in Cincinnati, in a stadium that was 75% full and where a large part of the crowd wore Moroccan colours, he said on ESPN cameras: "To be honest, for whatever reason, I'm not super happy with the number of Americans here. But thanks to those who came."
The problem? Those Moroccan fans in the stands were themselves, for the most part, American citizens. Football in the United States has been built precisely on these immigrant communities: Polish, Mexican, Ghanaian, Jamaican. And it is these same communities that still provide players for the US national team today.
A symbol of the Trump-era American paradox
Commentators pointed out that the dance could raise questions about the eligibility of some of Pulisic's teammates for the national team, such as Timothy Weah or Yunus Musah, whose presence in the national squad is based on birthright citizenship - the very kind of right Trump wants to challenge.
There lies the paradox: a man whose surname is the Croatian form of "Puglisi", a Sicilian family name, whose European passport was obtained thanks to a grandfather from Dalmatia, whose entire career was built at Dortmund, Chelsea and Milan, openly supports a political movement that advocates American identity withdrawal and distrust of immigration.
In his own way, Pulisic embodies Trump-era America in all its contradictions: a country of immigrants' sons voting to close its borders, a nation built on diversity that dreams of being homogeneous, a multicultural dressing room whose star does the 'Trump dance' in front of teammates with Mexican, Nigerian or Jamaican roots.