The AC Milan striker is the main protagonist of the widespread return to spirituality of the US national team. But he’s not the only one
Prayers before games, Bible study meetings during retreats, conversations about faith in the locker room. The United States in their home World Cup seem to want to look to the Almighty and who knows what divine help might be needed to beat Calha and Yildiz’s Turkey and then go first in the group. Religion, in particular evangelical Christianity, has become in recent years a very visible component of the identity of the men’s national soccer team (at home they use a dry acronym to refer to it: Usmnt, United States men’s national team), even more so on the eve of the 2026 World Cup and in this particular socio-political context that looms over the event.
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The main protagonist of this widespread return to spirituality is Christian Pulisic, star of the team even without the captain’s armband that coach Pochettino has just taken away from him. The AC Milan fan speaks openly about his faith and regularly publishes biblical references on social media. Already in the interminable nine-episode docuseries for Paramount+, at a certain point, he is seen in his Milanese home, sitting at a dining table with pink orchids in the background, while leafing through the Bible. A friend jokingly asks him what time it is and he replies, “It’s Bible Time.” It’s Bible time. In front of him, a pencil, a notebook open on a blank page and, around his neck, the cross he usually wears. Pulisic’s faith is certainly not a surprise, but what is new, if anything, is that in his national team a group of players has formed around him who seem to share the same inspiration.
On the Instagram profile of the Juventus player Weston McKennie we only read “All glory to God”, while in the image he is seen with his fingers pointing towards the sky and cross-shaped earrings. Chris Richards, a mustachioed defender with a bush on his head, said he and about ten Crystal Palace teammates regularly gather to pray and take part in Bible studies before matches. Goalkeeper Matt Freese is, however, a practicing Catholic and revealed that he met Pulisic during a religious meeting, even before sharing the experience with him in the national team. And the chief of staff, the Argentine who sits on the bench? It is known that in his homeland football is also mixed with religion and, in fact, Pochettino almost always wears a saint’s bracelet. When he arrived at the helm of Espanyol in 2009, he walked the entire 12 kilometers to the sanctuary of Montserrat, near Barcelona, to pray: he was listened to, the club was saved.
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The English newspaper The Guardian brought the threads together, investigating the phenomenon from all points of view and also showing the differences compared to the past. For example, in the last World Cup in the United States squad there was Walker Zimmerman, the son of a Protestant pastor who often testified to his faith. Then Yunus Musah, a Muslim known to Serie A, observant to the point of fasting during Ramadan despite his competitive activity and even on match days, and DeAndre Yedlin, a Buddhist who led several teammates in barefoot meditations on the pitch after every match in Qatar. What is different, if anything, is the context, the new air in Uncle Sam’s house: there is no direct connection between the choices of the players and national politics, but the topic in general occupies an increasingly larger space in the American public debate. Ultimately, it was the Trump administration that fanned religious nationalist movements and supported a Christian vision of national identity.
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Pulisic, who is a sympathizer of the president in office, must however change his earthly reality more than his transcendent one. The last goal, in a friendly match played on May 31st against Senegal in which he also provided an assist, broke an infinite fast: the AC Milan player had never scored in the whole of 2026 after a sensational start to the Rossoneri season. The previous center for the national team, however, dates back to November 2024 against Jamaica. In between there was also the controversial decision not to participate in the last Gold Cup, for which he attracted more than a few criticisms, especially from former players. In the latest friendlies, USMNT has still shown the usual two faces – up front the team is lively and fast, behind it static and fragile – but Christian has still taken a fair amount of weight off himself, to the point that he then silenced those who continued to criticize his lack of goals: “I hope they’ll stop talking about it now…”. Ultimately, he is still the cover man of the team, Captain America, the only one capable of signing autographs for 36 minutes in a row in the training camp in Irvine, near LA. Pochettino may have decided that the captain is no longer him, but Tim Ream, but Pulisic certainly has no less leadership than his teammate with the armband. Indeed, Bible in hand, he looks more like a preacher than an attacker.
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