Christian Pulisic’s hat trick vs. Panama was a statement by the USMNT’s biggest star

ORLANDO — It wasn’t just that Christian Pulisic scored his first senior U.S. national team hat trick in the Americans’ 5-1 World Cup qualifying rout of Panama on Sunday night.

It wasn’t even that Pulisic wore the captain’s armband, instead of the usual captain Tyler Adams, from the start until both men were subbed out in the 70th minute.

No, it was something else. Something a little more subtle, at least to the outside world. But inside the American locker room, it wasn’t subtle at all. U.S. manager Gregg Berhalter and his coaching staff had a very specific reason for choosing Pulisic to wear the armband.

“Because of the journey,” Berhalter said after the game.

Just about everyone listening knew what that meant without Berhalter having to say anything more. But he said it anyway, without hesitation.

“He was on the field when we didn’t qualify,” Berhalter continued. “And this was us saying to him, ‘This is a new group, this is a new team, and you’re a leader, and we want to show that and we want to highlight that.’”

Now everyone knows that this game wasn’t just a win, but a statement.

» READ MORE: Christian Pulisic’s hat trick powers the USMNT’s 5-1 rout of Panama in World Cup qualifying

The defining image of the failed 2018 World Cup qualifying campaign was Pulisic hunched over on the field after the collapse in Couva, Trinidad, his head in his hands. Since then, the U.S. team’s biggest star has carried the burden of failure more — and more publicly — than any other player.

For seven years, the Hershey native has been The Chosen One of American soccer. That’s how long it’s been since he left the U.S. to join the youth ranks of Germany’s Borussia Dortmund. It took him barely six months to reach the first team and make his pro debut. And when English juggernaut Chelsea bought him for $73 million in 2019, any American hopes not already pinned to him were attached by hammer and nail.

Every play he makes carries all the prayers a fan base that desperately craves the feel-good-about-itself recognition that praise from Europe — especially England — provides. Every game he doesn’t play sparks fears that America will be a soccer failure forever.

And he knows it all.

So can it really be surprising that Pulisic created the defining images of the all-but-finished 2022 campaign?

The first came when he scored against archrival Mexico last November in Cincinnati. Pulisic lifted his jersey to reveal a T-shirt with the message “MAN IN THE MIRROR,” a shot back at El Tri goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa’s pregame crack that “Mexico is the mirror in which the United States wants to see itself.”

» READ MORE: Why running up the score vs. Panama was key for the U.S. men's soccer team

The second — and the third and the fourth — came Sunday night in Orlando.

When the first penalty kick was given just over 12 minutes into the game, Jesús Ferreira initially stepped to the spot. Was anyone other than Pulisic really going to take it? Of course not. Ferreira was psyching out Panama goalkeeper Luis Mejía. When the time came, Pulisic stepped up and hit a no-doubter.

Pulisic was back at the spot in first-half stoppage time, and that strike was just as decisive. He raced away, flashed two fingers to the crowd and cameras, and did the worm dance on the grass to celebrate. (He later revealed that he did it to honor Mason Ogle, a young fan with bone cancer who was a game day ambassador. Ogle asked for the celebration, and Pulisic delivered.)

After scoring his second goal, Pulisic was free of his burdens, liberated to play with all of his natural skill. He showed it in spades on the hat trick-sealing goal. Watch it again, as often as you like, maybe even in slow motion once or twice.

The trap of Antonee Robinson’s precise cross, while pirouetting around Panama’s Fidel Escobar. The one-touch split of Escobar and Andrés Andrade into daylight, with the far post wide open and the crowd on its feet. One touch later, the ball was in the net, with Univision’s veteran play-by-play announcer Luis Omar Tapia exclaiming “Golazo!” to the history books.

He knew, Pulisic knew, Berhalter knew — they all knew.

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“I think Christian is always in the zone, to be honest with you,” said winger Paul Arriola, another veteran who was on the field in Trinidad that fateful night five years ago. “I saw a lot of focus out of everyone. But you know, there’s something special about Christian, and him as our captain tonight, to be able to step up a couple times to finish PKs and then his great run and finish that he had for his third goal, was great.”

Sometimes, Berhalter, Pulisic and others come off as emotionless and distant. This can offend the sensibilities of some fans who want their stars and their manager to appear as passionately invested as they are.

So when Berhalter doesn’t give table-pounding news conferences, or when Pulisic isn’t as talkative as Jason Kelce, those fans conclude that the U.S. team doesn’t care as much as they do.

Sunday night showed that conclusion is flat-out false.

“It feels great to get a hat trick, of course, my first one with the national team, but more importantly just to help the team to win and put us in a good spot with one game left,” Pulisic said. “It was a huge honor to be captain tonight and just to really help the team and lead the team, and with one game left in qualifying to help put us in a really good spot. ... I just really want to play in a World Cup and so does this team, and that’s why tonight was so important to us.”

Among the witnesses Sunday night were Pulisic’s parents, Mark and Kelly, who don’t get to watch their son play in person often. Christian found them after the game and gave them a big hug.

“Just seeing them after a really long time, after a great game like that,” Christian said, “they just told me they were proud. They’ve done everything for me in my life, so it’s just a nice moment.”

Not only did the U.S. players express their emotions plenty clearly on Sunday, but they also insisted more than the fan base did that qualification isn’t secure yet. Which is correct, officially, even though it would take a six-goal loss in Costa Rica for the Americans to not book a ticket to Qatar on Wednesday.

“Absolutely, we can enjoy tonight, but the job’s not done yet,” Pulisic said. “We have one more really important game and we’re taking it very seriously. We need to go in and get the job done.”

Do that, and those years of burdens should be off him once and for all.