USMNT: Pulisic and Turner discuss World Cup
Christian Pulisic hopes to change the way American soccer is viewed; Matt Turner talks about human rights issues ahead of the World Cup in Qatar.
Soccer has historically not been the dominant sport in the United States as it is in many other parts of the world. With so many other competing sports available, soccer has often been the one that’s been moved to the back burner as far as interest from Americans. As a result, others from outside of the US don’t take US soccer as seriously.
The World Cup, of course, usually generates more interest worldwide, including from people in the US and elsewhere, who would not typically watch soccer. US men’s national soccer team star Christian Pulisic hopes they can help change the way people view soccer in America.
“The World Cup is something so special for us and I feel like it’s the number one thing that Americans will watch when it comes to soccer,” said Pulisic. “So we’re really excited and we’re thankful for any type of support we can get. And we’re truly going to give everything we have and hope to make everyone back home proud.”
The USMNT will start the World Cup on Monday when they take on Wales in Group B before moving on to England and Iran. They missed out on the World Cup completely in 2018, but in 2022, a new group of talented players has arrived on the scene for the US.
“It’s been a while since we’ve had all of our best available guys possible,” said US player Giovanni Reyna. “But I think it all came together at the right time and we’re ready to show everyone the talent that we have and at this point finally put it all together.”
Pulisic told the media that he believes a successful World Cup would help greatly to change the way the world views soccer in the US and that it’s one of the team’s biggest goals to achieve that.
Matt Turner discusses human rights
With all the hype surrounding the World Cup, there is still a film of gray covering the excitement due to the human rights abuses that occurred not only in the preparations for the tournament in Qatar, but also as a regular standard in the country. The issue cannot be ignored, even as FIFA have tried. The USMNT have expressed that they will do their part to defend human rights not only in the United States, but across the globe.
“We’re an extremely young team. We have anchors that revolve around being the change and being a team that’s outspoken against things that have come about in the United States specifically,” said USMNT player Matt Turner. “And now I think it’s clear that we support human rights everywhere, and I think that this again is just another one of our anchors.”
On Tuesday, the USMNT players trained with migrant workers who helped build the World Cup stadiums. They hosted local army and embassy personnel training. They told the audience that the USMNT would due their part to commit to the values they are defending and that they are getting inspiration from the American service members who came to watch their practice.
The players will sport a rainbow-themed team logo in the training facility and in the media workroom to show their support for the LGBTQ community. In Qatar, same-sex relationships (not only marriage) are illegal.