Speaker 1: You're listening to Comedy Central. Christian Pulistic, welcome to the
Speaker 1: daily Social Distancing Show. Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 1: You know, you are not only one of the most
Speaker 1: celebrated football players in the world right now soccer players
Speaker 1: in the world right now, you are also one of
Speaker 1: my favorite players to play with in FIFA because you
Speaker 1: are insanely fast and you just get the job done.
Speaker 1: You you make history every time you step on the pitch.
Speaker 1: I mean, you are now the only and the first
Speaker 1: American to win a champions league, and then within the
Speaker 1: space of eight days you go on to win another
Speaker 1: championship for U s A and you kick the winning
Speaker 1: penalty kick. Let's talk a little bit about the journey
Speaker 1: of Christian Pulistic. What does it feel like right now?
Speaker 1: Are you have you even soaked in everything that you've
Speaker 1: achieved in the space of like what three weeks? I
Speaker 1: don't think I have yet. I'm really just trying to
Speaker 1: take it all in. It's been an unreal journey. Honestly,
Speaker 1: I can't believe that I've got to this point so soon.
Speaker 1: But I honestly just feel really lucky. Huh. You know
Speaker 1: you you You've You've gone at the title of Captain America.
Speaker 1: That's what that's what the fans call you, that's what
Speaker 1: the media calls you. And I think for good reason,
Speaker 1: because you have come to me the face of American
Speaker 1: soccer in the world, and people love you for it
Speaker 1: because for so long people are like Americans don't care
Speaker 1: about soccer, they don't like soccer. But you you have
Speaker 1: this passion in the fans, fans of Chelsea, fans around
Speaker 1: the world. What do you think it is about the
Speaker 1: way you play the game and what you bring to
Speaker 1: the game that has made people fall in love with
Speaker 1: you and the way you play the game stuff to say.
Speaker 1: I think, I think I just bring a different spark
Speaker 1: to the game than what a lot of people have
Speaker 1: seen from Americans in the past. I guess you could
Speaker 1: say I like to be just creative and trying new things.
Speaker 1: And I hope people see that and think, you know,
Speaker 1: you know, maybe Americans can do it. So I'm hoping
Speaker 1: that I can also inspire others others to do it
Speaker 1: back home as all right, you know, I don't even
Speaker 1: think it's a maybe anymore. I mean, now you've just
Speaker 1: made it. It's it's only a matter of time. I
Speaker 1: remember when I was growing up, one of the biggest
Speaker 1: arguments we used to have was whether the USA could
Speaker 1: ever win a World Cup. And we're always like, USA
Speaker 1: will never in the World Cup because they just don't
Speaker 1: care about soccer. And it feels like this generation is
Speaker 1: changing that You've got teammates who are playing in some
Speaker 1: of the biggest teams in the world, which is a
Speaker 1: new generation for Team USA. Talk me through why you
Speaker 1: think this change has happened and and and what the
Speaker 1: dynamic has changed in the actual squad. Absolutely. I mean
Speaker 1: there were definitely American players who had played in Europe
Speaker 1: before and and guys that I even looked up to.
Speaker 1: But I think in this new generation, you're just seeing
Speaker 1: just a bunch of fearless guys just going for it
Speaker 1: in Europe. I don't know, I really just took a
Speaker 1: big risk moving to Germany for example, and you know
Speaker 1: Western for example, going out and and doing this thing
Speaker 1: in Germany, then getting a move to Italy, and I
Speaker 1: think it's just this this new generation of just fearless
Speaker 1: soccer players who just want to go out and I
Speaker 1: prove to the world that that Americans can do it too.
Speaker 1: And I think that's why we're seeing such a such
Speaker 1: a big jump. You know what, you know, what I've
Speaker 1: always appreciated about you is every time you get on
Speaker 1: the pitch, it doesn't matter when you would get on
Speaker 1: the pitch, it always felt like, hey, you were grateful
Speaker 1: to be on the pitch and be you were going
Speaker 1: to make the most of every single minute that you came.
Speaker 1: Where do you get that from it? Like? What is
Speaker 1: it about the game that inspires you to always want
Speaker 1: to do your best even with the little time that
Speaker 1: you've given that you've now increased to just being the
Speaker 1: star of many of your games. I think it's what
Speaker 1: you said, it's really just the love for the game.
Speaker 1: I mean, I have so much passion for for the sport,
Speaker 1: and I mean there's a lot of other people who
Speaker 1: you know, who would love to be doing what I'm doing,
Speaker 1: And honestly, I feel grateful any time we're able to
Speaker 1: staff on the pitch. So that's really just what it is.
Speaker 1: And then just going out and trying to enjoy every
Speaker 1: moment because you know, one minute, like you said, whether
Speaker 1: it's more or ninety, you can you can change a game,
Speaker 1: and you can influence a game, and that's that's always
Speaker 1: my mindset going into it. What many people will appreciate
Speaker 1: about you is you don't just have a joy for
Speaker 1: the game for yourself, but you have a joy for
Speaker 1: the game for others. You know, you come from Hershey, Pennsylvania.
Speaker 1: You just plowed yourself into the game of soccer. You're like,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna do this thing. I'm gonna make it as
Speaker 1: as as far as I can. You've gone to the
Speaker 1: you know, to the top of the game. Twenty two
Speaker 1: years old. You still have your whole career ahead of you,
Speaker 1: but now what you've started doing is really paving the
Speaker 1: way for others to follow in your footsteps. So talk
Speaker 1: to me about what you're doing, what's happening. I know
Speaker 1: you you started sort of like an academy. You've started
Speaker 1: like a training program. What are you doing and what
Speaker 1: are you hoping to achieve with this? Yes, so I'm
Speaker 1: really excited that I was able to help my my hometown.
Speaker 1: You know, club and academy p a classics um to
Speaker 1: basically build you know, new fields for for these kids.
Speaker 1: There's there's a multiple miniature fields that these kids can
Speaker 1: kind of just go play on. There's there's another field,
Speaker 1: and there's a nice kick wall, some skills and challenges
Speaker 1: and stuff, and it's it's really just an area that
Speaker 1: I hope the kids can just go to and have fun,
Speaker 1: sometimes without coaches, sometimes without because that's growing up. I
Speaker 1: think that's what I missed out on in the States,
Speaker 1: where after school, you just you know, the kids might
Speaker 1: go play basketball, they might go do these other things. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's just such a it's such a different culture. I
Speaker 1: think it was when I when I moved to England,
Speaker 1: actually when I was when I was very young. I
Speaker 1: lived there for a year and after school every day
Speaker 1: we went on these little courts and we were just
Speaker 1: playing for hours, you know, kicking the ball around, and
Speaker 1: that's where I really started to love the game so much.
Speaker 1: So I hope that that's obviously just one, you know, small,
Speaker 1: you know, portion of it, but I hope you really
Speaker 1: inspired kids to just go out and want to play
Speaker 1: and have fun and you know, maybe see my name
Speaker 1: on the on the court and thank you know, you know,
Speaker 1: I want to I want to be like him, and
Speaker 1: that's uh, yeah, that would be that would be the goal. Well,
Speaker 1: you know what, you're so young that not only could
Speaker 1: they try to be like you, they could probably meet
Speaker 1: you in the league, and then you could beat them
Speaker 1: in the final and then remind them that you made
Speaker 1: it all possible for them. Um, but Christian, thank you
Speaker 1: so much for joining me man. Congratulations on everything you're doing.
Speaker 1: Thank you for your passion for the game. Thank you
Speaker 1: for bringing it to the US and the way that
Speaker 1: you have done. Thank you for bringing the fans into
Speaker 1: the sport. And congratulations on all your trophies, all your
Speaker 1: medals and everything that's still to come. Thanks so much.
Speaker 1: Thank you for having me. What's the Daily Show weeknights
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