There's a moment in Christian Pulisic's documentary series in which he wonders aloud if he'll ever have it. Ahh, the metaphorical it, the thing that separates the good from the great. Sometimes it's an obsession, sometimes it's willpower, sometimes it's belief, but whatever it is, the truly great ones must have it.
Even at this stage of his career, even with all of the skill and success he's shown since arriving on the scene as American soccer's most talented teenager, Pulisic can't help but wonder: does he have it and, if not now, will he ever?
"I'm playing at a high level right now with some of the best in the world, but I feel like to stay on that level and to reach that level, you have to have this level of confidence that sometimes I feel like I miss," Pulisic said in the eponymous "PULISIC" docuseries on Paramount+. "I don't know, I don't have that constant cocky confidence that some of the best have, and that's the next step. That's the next step to get to the top."
Once again, Pulisic finds himself in the crosshairs in terms of confidence and, perhaps just as importantly, his ways of trying to inspire it in others. His approach as a leader has been a talking point, particularly when assessing the U.S. men's national team's recent unexpected losses to Panama and Canada in the CONCACAF Nations League.
And then, over the weekend, with Milan's season on the line, Pulisic's bold decision to let Santi Gimenez take a penalty ultimately cost his team while, once again, raising questions about his leadership. Is Pulisic as ruthless as he needs to be? And if he never finds that ruthlessness - if he fails to transition that confidence into cockiness - can he reach the highest levels of this sport?
Such a discussion requires nuance, but it's one that Pulisic himself seems to be having internally, even as his club struggles and Serie A and, from a national team perspective, the 2026 World Cup beckons.
