The 2018 World Cup final was a pretty enthralling game.
Aside from the simple fact it was a World Cup final, France and Croatia also played an open and entertaining match in Moscow, with France prevailing 4-2 to lift its second World Cup title.
Weston McKennie was at a watch party with some friends and teammates that day, but don’t ask him too much about that match. Because he was playing Fortnite.
In an interview with ESPN, the U.S. national team and Juventus midfielder professed to be among the group of pro players who give it their all between the lines — and then mostly ignore the sport when it’s not time to play.
Case in point: that watch party, which took place at Christian Pulisic’s house when he was still at Borussia Dortmund. McKennie, who played for nearby Schalke at the time, attended the event with several other players amid the teams’ preseason camps.
“Everyone was on the couch watching the game,” McKennie said. “There were a whole bunch of TVs.”
But the USMNT midfielder was playing Fortnite.
“They all just laughed at me,” he said. “Like, ‘How can you be playing that right now? This game is so good.’ And I would look up every once in a while. But it just doesn’t interest me. I’ll play soccer and give it everything I have. But that mentality when I’m not playing, I need to switch it off.”
Rabbi Matondo, who currently plays for Rangers and was a teammate of McKennie’s at the time, was dumbfounded.
“I used to ask him, ‘How do you play football the way you do and have no knowledge of anything going on in the sport?” Matondo said.
For McKennie, who has starred for Juventus this season and will be a major part of the USMNT during the upcoming Copa América, finding the right balance between off-field and on-field engagement is key.
“I enjoy playing football. I want to go as far as I can,” the 25-year-old said. “But honestly, if my career ended tomorrow, I would be happy. And I wouldn’t have regrets for anything that I’ve done.”
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