“I used to sit behind him. I used to squirt empty air with a little bit of water into his ear,” McKennie said. “I was scared to take the elevator, so he used to walk with me up the stairs, like 11 flights of stairs, after training all the time.”
A dozen years later, they are mainstays on the
“More fun playing with him, so I don’t really have to worry about him offensively,” McKennie said with a laugh during a conference call Tuesday to promote the match.
Both found success as teenaged American standouts in
Pulisic has thrived under coach
Pulisic regained what he termed “that self belief.”
“I don’t think it’s so important to exactly find the exact reason for why I’ve scored some more goals or whatever you want to call success,” he said. “It comes and goes at times in players' careers and we both kind of needed to find that again and, yeah, luckily we have.”
A native of
While Pulisic is expressive and introspective, McKennie is the
“I might be a little bit different than Christian in terms of I want to be happy,” he said. “I want to feel like I’m at home because being away from family a lot, it’s very important for me to have a kind of family environment and people that I get along with.”
McKennie spoke of the upcoming matchup as a competition for “bragging rights,” and Pulisic of how when they get together it becomes time for video games.
McKennie said he missed ranch dressing and Cheez-Its in
“You can’t give the Cheez-Its to Christian. He'll kill 'em," McKennie said.
“That's such a lie,” shot back Pulisic, cracking up.
Citing the switch to Serie A as ideal, McKennie mentioned Pulisic even gets to live on a golf course. Pulisic cited "the change in mindset and just the way of life here, feeling that family environment” and his face brightened when he discussed “the trust and the confidence from a top team, and being given that right away.”
McKennie was born in
“During the summer, I looked at myself and realized I lost a little bit belief in myself, to be completely honest. The confidence was kind of low.,” McKennie said.
McKennie recalled a conversation with Allegri when preseason training began last summer.
“He joked with me a little bit, was like Wes, you got to start running now and you stop running at the end of the season,” McKennie said. “So that’s kind of what I’ve been doing.”
Running is fine. Tight indoor spaces are not.
McKennie still hasn't gotten over his elevator phobia.
“I still jump out the elevator when too many people get in,” he said. “I get caught waiting the whole time.”
Both spoke of the pride for playing for the
“With the showing that we had in 2022, I think we kind of open the eyes up to the world that we can compete and we’re not just looked at as a team that goes until the final whistle," McKennie said. "We have that quality, but now we can also play, as well.”
He anticipated chippier play at the Copa América, where the
“This summer will be an amazing test again and where we can show the CONCACAF side of us a little bit," McKennie said, laughing, "the little more I guess you can say dirty side — I don’t really want to say that.”
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