What’s better than a 10-part, eight-hour docuseries about your favorite sports team? How about a three-minute, 25-second mini-documentary on your favorite footballer? At least that’s what EA Sports hopes we prefer with a newly released Christian Pulisic mini-doc to promote FIFA 22, accompanied by a bizarre press release.
EA Sports and Christian Pulisic (via the American’s Instagram page) published a 205-second documentary on Pulisic’s life that is surprisingly comprehensive despite its brevity. It’s a quick look at his youth to his time at Borussia Dortmund to his stardom at Chelsea and even his goal against Mexico in the recent World Cup qualifier last month.
It’s all an effort to sell more copies of FIFA 22 (which is a fine enough game, if you have the latest generation of consoles), but we’re never going to be upset by more U.S. soccer content.
Christian Pulisic Mini-Doc
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While the choice to include video game highlights of CP10 is a bit of an odd one, the short film features all-time USMNT leading goal scorer Clint Dempsey and a good collection of Pulisic’s best highlights from Europe. None of this information is all that new for anyone who has been paying attention to the 23-year-old over the last six years, but it’s got a feel-good factor to it that any U.S. fan will love.
Pulisic could well be on his way to breaking Dempsey’s goal-scoring record. The Chelsea winger already has 17 goals in 42 appearances at the age of 23. Dempsey (and Landon Donovan) finished his career with 57 U.S. goals.
My biggest issue with the whole Pulisic mini-doc is the news release I received about it. Here’s a direct quote from the email.
“America has a population of over 330 million,” the release read. “Home to some of the biggest & best athletes in the world. But America has never produced a single world-class soccer player. Until Christian Pulisic. As a FIFA 22 Global Ambassador, Pulisic is changing the way people think about American soccer and giving millions of fans a reason to watch & cheer.”
America has never produced a single world-class soccer player? What the actual fuck? I guess Michelle Akers, Mia Hamm, Kristine Lilly, Hope Solo, Abby Wambach, Megan Rapinoe, Carli Lloyd and Alex Morgan don’t qualify as world class in the minds of EA Sports?
Is EA Sports so desperate to promote an American that it will ignore the American footballers who have actually achieved what Pulisic is hoping to achieve in his career? No wonder the FIFA series continues to ignore the women’s game, merely using women as a small gimmick rather than treating them with the respect they deserve.
Anyway, the Pulisic mini-doc is cool, minus the dumb press release. Anyone who plays FIFA 22 between Dec. 15 and Jan. 14 will get a free, untradeable “Next Generation Player Item” that could be Pulisic, who continues to be a brand ambassador for EA Sports. This also has something to do with a FUT Versus promotion going on with FIFA Ultimate Team right now.
Choose your side❄️ #FUT Versus arrives tomorrow in #FIFA22
Players face off against themselves with contrasting permanent boosts.— EA SPORTS FIFA (@EASPORTSFIFA) December 9, 2021
