Christian Pulisic's "It's Called Soccer" Shirt

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About

Christian Pulisic's "It's Called Soccer" Shirt refers to a photoshopped image of American soccer player Christian Pulisic's undershirt made to read, "It's called soccer," in reference to the debate between calling the sport "soccer" or "football." Pulisic's original shirt read, "Man in the Mirror" (referencing the MJ song). The "It's called soccer" version of the image trended amid the U.S. vs. England game in the first round of the 2022 FIFA World Cup as a way to make fun of Britsh and European fans, humorously portraying the U.S. team and their word choice as superior. American fans also chanted "It's called soccer" in the stadium to support their team.

Origin

On November 12th, 2021, Team U.S.A. played Team Mexico in a 2022 World Cup Qualifier match in which Pulisic scored the first goal of the game.^[1] The U.S. ended up winning the match 2-0.^[2] On November 12th, 2021, the official Twitter^[1] account of the USMNT posted a video of Pulisic's goal showing his celebration in which he lifted up his jersey to show his undershirt (shown below).

INSTANT.IMPACT.@cpulisic_10 scores his 17th international goal, tying him with Michael Bradley, DaMarcus Beasley, and Earnie Stewart on the #USMNT all-time scoring leaderboard. pic.twitter.com/9vKOnFW9je

— U.S. Men's National Soccer Team (@USMNT) November 13, 2021

Although Pulisic's undershirt wasn't visible in the video broadcast, Getty Images^[3] captured a photograph of it, showing that it read "Man in the Mirror" in reference to Michael Jackson's song (shown below).

On June 15th, 2022, Twitter^[4] user matthew_gon24 tweeted, "When Pulisic scores against England," and attached a photoshopped image of Pulisic's undershirt that read, "It's called soccer." Over the course of five months, the tweet received roughly 4,600 likes (shown below).

Spread

On June 18th, 2022, the verified Instagram^[5] account espnfc reposted matthew_gon24's photoshop, gaining roughly 139,300 likes in five months (shown below, left). On June 19th, 2022, the Twitter^[6] account nocontextfooty also reposted matthew_gon24's photoshop with no caption, gaining roughly 26,800 likes in five months (shown below, right).

Going into late 2022, the catchphrase "It's Called Soccer Now" became a way for American meme creators to make fun of England and British people's misfortunes. For instance, on July 18th, 2022, Twitter^[7] user Mr_Cuddlez88 posted a screenshot that showed the value of the Euro was one cent less than the American dollar, captioning it, "It’s called soccer now and there’s nothing you can do about it." The tweet received roughly 363,600 likes in four months (shown below, left). Also on July 18th, 2022, Twitter^[8] user broomey66 replied with a meme about the catchphrase, gaining roughly 8,900 likes in four months (shown below, right).

Viral tweets with the phrase continued to surface as the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar approached, like one tweet from Twitter^[9] user BoyYeetsWorld on September 9th, 2022, that read, "it’s called soccer now," and earned roughly 206,500 likes in two months. On November 21st, 2022, Twitter^[10] user DrunkByTheTurn_ captioned the photoshop of Pulisic, "This maybe the hardest pic of all time 😤 🇺🇸," in reference to the Pics That Go Hard trend. The tweet only earned 17 likes in nine days, however, it was screenshotted and reposted to /r/Memes^[11] on the same day by Redditor ZadarskiDrake, gaining roughly 5,100 upvotes in nine days (shown below).

The photoshop of Pulisic also gained meme attention on TikTok. For instance, on November 27th, 2022, TikToker^[12] ramsfooty posted a video with text overlay reading, "if you're ever feeling embarrassed just remember that there's players who write messages under their shirt and never score," earning roughly 1.2 million plays and 221,800 likes in three days (shown below). Soon after, however, Pulisic scored in the U.S. vs. Iran game. Multiple photo slideshows were posted on the app that praised the American team and used Christian Pulisic's "It's Called Soccer" shirt.

"It's Called Soccer" U.S. Chant

On November 26th, 2022, TikToker^[13] mrwootwoot posted a video from inside a Qatari stadium in which the American crowd can be heard chanting "It's called soccer!" The video received roughly 589,700 plays and 49,600 likes in four days (shown below, left). Also on November 26th, TikToker^[14] melissaortiz5 also posted a video of American fans doing the chant in the stadium, gaining 120,800 plays and 9,500 likes in four days (shown below, right).

The LeBron James of Soccer

The LeBron James Of Soccer is a nickname given to Christian Pulisic who also plays for Chelsea F.C. The nickname was coined in late 2021 after an episode of Pawn Stars aired that featured a signed Pulisic jersey. The meme took off en masse when the American team made it out of the first round of the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar. Inherently, the satirical nickname relates Pulisic to NBA player LeBron James who is regarded by some as the best basketball player in history.