This is why U.S. captain Christian Pulisic was in Little Havana days before Copa America

On a non-descript corner in Little Havana Saturday morning, far away from the crowds at AC Milan and the pressure of being the face of U.S. men’s soccer, Christian Pulisic took a break from his preparation for next week’s Copa America to visit a place near and dear to his heart.

A year ago this week, he was on that very corner, at Calle Ocho and S.W. 20^th Ave, opening the first location of Pulisic Stomping Grounds, a recreational soccer facility that offers free clinics, as well as chess and arts and crafts, to underserved neighborhood children.

Pulisic, with the help of his sponsor PUMA, established the program to “provide underserved youth access to a field where they can learn, play and dream.”

To date, more than 300 boys and girls have participated, 90 percent of whom had never practiced with coaches before. All of them received soccer apparel, cleats and PUMA donated 200 balls.

The Miami Herald caught up with Pulisic as he visited with the children Saturday, and he spoke about the genesis of the program, why he chose Miami, his love of chess, and the pressure on Team USA heading into Copa America, which kicks off Thursday and runs through July 14 in 13 cities across the United States.

“So, this was a really big point for me, to help inspire the next generation and leave a legacy and the idea was to allow kids to have opportunities to just come out and play in a safe space and be themselves,” Pulisic said about the Stomping Grounds program, which he plans to expand to other parts of the country.

His family recently relocated from Hershey, Pennsylvania to Palm Beach County; and although Pulisic spends most of his time in Italy and traveling the world playing soccer, South Florida has become a home base and Miami made perfect sense to launch his project.

“My family is nearby, and this is an area where kids might not have an opportunity to come to a place like this,” he said. “The sport is not only growing in this country, but especially down here, with (Lionel) Messi and everything. It’s an exciting time.”

The facility includes an oversized outdoor chess set and regular chess sets that children can use. Pulisic explained that his grandfather taught him to play chess and it remains a part of his life.

“During my season, I’m playing every day online and stuff like that, so I just thought it would be a cool little addition,” he said. “I understand that it can be tough for the kids to learn but for me, there’s something very, very exciting and cool about the game and maybe some people will get into it. Chess keeps you mentally sharp. You have to make many moves ahead. It’s good for the brain.”

That kind of strategic thinking is among the reasons Pulisic emerged as one of the most talented U.S. players in history. The 25-year-old is nicknamed “Captain America” and has played for some of Europe’s biggest clubs, Borussia Dortmund in Germany, Chelsea in England, and AC Milan in Italy since 2023.

When he moved from Dortmund to Chelsea in January 2019 for a transfer fee of $73 million, he became the most expensive North American player of all time.

Pulisic is part of the “golden generation” of American players, a group that left the United States at a young age and has been playing at prestigious European clubs. Yunus Musah is Pulisic’s teammate at AC Milan. Weston McKennie and Tim Weah play at Juventus. Matt Turner and Gio Reyna play for Nottingham Forest.

The USMNT was the youngest by minutes played at the Qatar World Cup, where it advanced from the group stage and lost to the Netherlands. Coach Gregg Berhalter and his squad are expected to make the knockout stage of Copa America.

Team USA opens group play against Bolivia on June 23 at AT&T Stadium in Dallas, then faces Panama on June 27 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta and concludes on July 1 against Uruguay at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City.

The team was subjected to harsh criticism on June 8 when the United States suffered its most lopsided loss in Berhalter’s time as coach, a 5-1 rout by Colombia in Landover, Maryland in a Copa America tune up match. The crowd was largely wearing yellow and rooting for Colombia, making it sting even more.

The U.S. rebounded five days later with a 1-1 tie against Brazil in Orlando in the final Copa warmup for both teams. Pulisic scored the lone U.S. goal on a free kick. The tie ended an 11-game U.S. losing streak to Brazil.

“It was massive for us, a good result,” he said. “We obviously wanted to win, but to get a goal and to get a tie was important, a good performance under our belt to build a bit of momentum and confidence going to the tournament. It is going to help us so much because we could potentially face those teams again.”

Pulisic conceded that he and his teammates are under intense pressure to take U.S. soccer to new heights.

“There’s definitely the pressures that come with this group of U.S. players, but it’s always been like that,” Pulisic said. “For me personally, being on the national team for such a long time. I’ve always felt those pressures. It’s like, `Oh, you’re playing in Europe, you’re playing at the highest level. You need to go to the U.S. and be the best and perform and constantly do that.’

“I think there were times where I kind of got lost in that a bit. But I’ve definitely settled into that role where I’m playing at the highest level and I know I can do it. I’m going to come back and enjoy myself with the national team, give the best I can and at the end of the day, that’s all you can do. The key is to embrace the pressure and I think we’re going to be just fine.”

For more information on Pulisic Stomping Grounds and registration link, go to soctainer.com/cplp .