It is a potent combination: the most popular sport on earth and a genuine superstar from the world’s most powerful nation. To be the figurehead of the United States at football is to wield, if you so choose, an influence. You get invited to the White House. You get to see what happens if you turn down the invite. But enough of Megan Rapinoe, the most celebrated footballer of this summer.

In the men’s game, the highest-profile American is Christian Pulisic — and he has quite a weight on his shoulders. Pulisic is not yet old enough to legally order a drink in his native Pennsylvania, but is freighted with the expectations of a vast nation, and, as of today, of a big club in