It was an ordinary day. Just opened my front door and there on page 1 of my morning newspaper were two headlines which read: "ABSOLUTELY FEARLESS" and "Hershey native's family has strong ties to county, region." Both were stories about star soccer player Christian Pulisic and his performances in the World Cup Soccer competition being held at the Al Bayt Stadium in Al Khor, Quatar. Christian has strong ties to Lancaster County were a soccer park bears his name. Christian's dad, Mark Pulisic, played for the professional Harrisburg Heat Soccer team and his father and mother both played soccer at George Mason University in Virginia in the 1980s. Mark turned pro in 1991 when he played for the Harrisburg Heat which were in the National Professional Soccer League and played all their home games in the Harrisburg Farm Show Complex & Expo Center. Mark later coached after getting his start at Lebanon Valley College. As a teenager, Mark trained with the Harrisburg City Islanders before moving to Germany at the age of 15 to begin his professional career. His son, Christian left the states for Germany when he was just 15 years old, and the sport has taken him all over the world. He has played the last eight seasons in Europe, splitting his time between two of the sport's premier clubs: Germany's Borussia Dortmund and England's Chelsea. Christian is the youngest player to score for the U.S. men's national team, which he did as a 17-year-old debutant a day after attending his senior prom at Hershey High School. He has been given the nickname of "Captain America" and pegged as a generational talent. He was at first the smallest on the team, but today is the star of the team. This past Tuesday in a World Cup game he charged the net, lunged into the air, reached out with his right foot and directed teammate Sergiño Dest's headed cross into the net before crashing into Iran's goalkeeper. He finished the half, but had to be taken to the hospital where he was diagnosed with a pelvic contusion. He was eventually given the OK to return while his lone goal gave his team the win. Christian was born in Hershey, Pennsylvania and spent a year of his childhood with his mother in England where she was teaching as a Fulbight Scholar. Christian's love of he game of soccer deepened during that year in England. He and his mom eventually came back to the states where his father coached an indoor soccer team. At the age of 9 they moved to Hershey, Pennsylvania. It was at this time that Christian began to dream of moments like his recent goal at Qatar. Before the World Cup began, he was interviewed and he told the reporter that, "It was always a dream of mine. I wanted to be there so bad." I had just finished typing today's story as I was watching the USA's game against The Netherlands. If you haven't seen, or read, about the results, the USA team was defeated 3-1. For many of the players it might have been a once in a lifetime chance to be part of the World Cup, but for Mark and others on the team, they will be back once again to play their hearts out while trying to once again win the World Cup for the United States. It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.
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