You're listening to Comedy Central. Christian Pulistic, welcome to the daily Social Distancing Show. Thank you so much for having me. You know, you are not only one of the most celebrated football players in the world right now soccer players in the world right now, you are also one of my favorite players to play with in FIFA because you are insanely fast and you just get the job done. You you make history every time you step on the pitch.
I mean, you are now the only and the first American to win a champions league, and then within the space of eight days you go on to win another championship for U s A and you kick the winning penalty kick. Let's talk a little bit about the journey of Christian Pulistic. What does it feel like right now? Are you have you even soaked in everything that you've achieved in the space of like what three weeks? I don't think I have yet. I'm really just trying to
take it all in. It's been an unreal journey. Honestly, I can't believe that I've got to this point so soon. But I honestly just feel really lucky. Huh. You know you you You've You've gone at the title of Captain America. That's what that's what the fans call you, that's what the media calls you. And I think for good reason, because you have come to me the face of American soccer in the world, and people love you for it because for so long people are like Americans don't care
about soccer, they don't like soccer. But you you have this passion in the fans, fans of Chelsea, fans around the world. What do you think it is about the way you play the game and what you bring to the game that has made people fall in love with you and the way you play the game stuff to say. I think, I think I just bring a different spark to the game than what a lot of people have seen from Americans in the past. I guess you could say I like to be just creative and trying new things.
And I hope people see that and think, you know, you know, maybe Americans can do it. So I'm hoping that I can also inspire others others to do it back home as all right, you know, I don't even think it's a maybe anymore. I mean, now you've just made it. It's it's only a matter of time. I remember when I was growing up, one of the biggest arguments we used to have was whether the USA could ever win a World Cup. And we're always like, USA will never in the World Cup because they just don't
care about soccer. And it feels like this generation is changing that You've got teammates who are playing in some of the biggest teams in the world, which is a new generation for Team USA. Talk me through why you think this change has happened and and and what the dynamic has changed in the actual squad. Absolutely. I mean there were definitely American players who had played in Europe before and and guys that I even looked up to.
But I think in this new generation, you're just seeing just a bunch of fearless guys just going for it in Europe. I don't know, I really just took a big risk moving to Germany for example, and you know Western for example, going out and and doing this thing in Germany, then getting a move to Italy, and I think it's just this this new generation of just fearless soccer players who just want to go out and I prove to the world that that Americans can do it too.
And I think that's why we're seeing such a such a big jump. You know what, you know, what I've always appreciated about you is every time you get on the pitch, it doesn't matter when you would get on the pitch, it always felt like, hey, you were grateful to be on the pitch and be you were going to make the most of every single minute that you came.
Where do you get that from it? Like? What is it about the game that inspires you to always want to do your best even with the little time that you've given that you've now increased to just being the star of many of your games. I think it's what you said, it's really just the love for the game. I mean, I have so much passion for for the sport, and I mean there's a lot of other people who you know, who would love to be doing what I'm doing, And honestly, I feel grateful any time we're able to
staff on the pitch. So that's really just what it is. And then just going out and trying to enjoy every moment because you know, one minute, like you said, whether it's more or ninety, you can you can change a game, and you can influence a game, and that's that's always my mindset going into it. What many people will appreciate about you is you don't just have a joy for the game for yourself, but you have a joy for the game for others. You know, you come from Hershey, Pennsylvania.
You just plowed yourself into the game of soccer. You're like, I'm gonna do this thing. I'm gonna make it as as as far as I can. You've gone to the you know, to the top of the game. Twenty two years old. You still have your whole career ahead of you, but now what you've started doing is really paving the way for others to follow in your footsteps. So talk to me about what you're doing, what's happening. I know you you started sort of like an academy. You've started
like a training program. What are you doing and what are you hoping to achieve with this? Yes, so I'm really excited that I was able to help my my hometown. You know, club and academy p a classics um to basically build you know, new fields for for these kids. There's there's a multiple miniature fields that these kids can
kind of just go play on. There's there's another field, and there's a nice kick wall, some skills and challenges and stuff, and it's it's really just an area that I hope the kids can just go to and have fun, sometimes without coaches, sometimes without because that's growing up. I think that's what I missed out on in the States, where after school, you just you know, the kids might go play basketball, they might go do these other things. Yeah,
it's just such a it's such a different culture. I think it was when I when I moved to England, actually when I was when I was very young. I lived there for a year and after school every day we went on these little courts and we were just playing for hours, you know, kicking the ball around, and that's where I really started to love the game so much.
So I hope that that's obviously just one, you know, small, you know, portion of it, but I hope you really inspired kids to just go out and want to play and have fun and you know, maybe see my name on the on the court and thank you know, you know, I want to I want to be like him, and
that's uh, yeah, that would be that would be the goal. Well, you know what, you're so young that not only could they try to be like you, they could probably meet you in the league, and then you could beat them in the final and then remind them that you made it all possible for them. Um, but Christian, thank you so much for joining me man. Congratulations on everything you're doing. Thank you for your passion for the game. Thank you for bringing it to the US and the way that
you have done. Thank you for bringing the fans into the sport. And congratulations on all your trophies, all your medals and everything that's still to come. Thanks so much. Thank you for having me. What's the Daily Show weeknights and even central on Comedy Central and stream full episodes anytime on Paramount Plus. This has been a Comedy Central Podcasts