68 years since the Ballon d’Or began and no American player has ever lifted the trophy—except, of course, on the women’s side, where Megan Rapinoe is the only one to have won it. On the men’s side, however, the drought continues, much like the U.S. men’s history at the World Cup. Many iconic names have come and gone, but none have managed to win the award. While today’s generation of Americans places their hopes on Christian Pulisic to fulfill this dream, Alexi Lalas believes the USMNT captain ‘is never going to be like that.’

We can feel for those who had been vouching for Mr. Captain America himself to be the pioneer of winning the Golden Ball. Then again, Lalas has no interest in giving false hopes over this opportunity. In the latest episode of the State of the Union podcast, while discussing the possibility of Pulisic winning the Ballon d’Or, the USWNT icon said, “Could he? Yes. Is it in the cards? No. For a number of different reasons not the least of which is, no matter what you’re still American and that’s not a woe-is-me type of thing or an excuse but it does matter until it doesn’t.”

Lalas insisted that if such a stereotype hadn’t existed, may become the first person to win the award where these reasons ultimately don’t matter. However, it all comes down to the second problem for the 26-year-old winger, which is, that he is playing for AC Milan, a club that certainly isn’t in its prime anymore and is rather struggling in the Serie A. “I think when it comes to the Ballon d’Or, you have to be playing at one of the elites, one of the super clubs.”

Unless Pulisic moves to a bigger club like Real Madrid and Barcelona, or AC Milan returns to its prime, the former Borussia Dortmund star should avoid thinking of being on the podium. “He’s not larger than life. I know this is subjective but this stardust and stardom that some of these players that we’re talking about; Cristiano Ronaldo, even Vinicius Jr, and these types of players, it does matter. It doesn’t always matter, because we’ve seen some unsexy types of picks but they’re few and far between.”

“If you’re going to overcome these things, then you better be Zlatan-esque and larger-than-life things that you do and Christian Pulisic is never going to be like that,” concluded Lalas, clearly sharing a stark reality with the USMNT skipper and his hopefuls. Though it may seem Pulisic is completely out of the Ballon d’Or picture, there’s still a route for him!

The route to Ballon d’Or for Christian Pulisic

Christian Pulisic has been in outstanding form this season. If you’ve missed his recent performances, his 7 goals and 5 assists in just 15 appearances across Serie A and the UEFA Champions League speak volumes. The American captain has shown consistency and resilience, especially given his past struggles with injuries, delivering impressive goals and standout displays on the field.

If he continues to keep up this similar display throughout the end of the season, then there’s no doubt about the fact he’ll make the Ballon d’Or nominations. Repeating the same chapter every season might just get him into the top five. Then again, it all depends on how the other 10 players with whom he shares the pitch perform to win any significant silverware also comes into play. Rest assured, fingers shall be crossed to see the impossible happen!