Here’s why Harry Potter might take some of the credit if the U.S. has a magical World Cup run

The U.S. Men’s National Team (USMNT) won’t be able to use magic to win the FIFA World Cup, but if they could, Weston McKennie says he’s got a couple of tricks up his sleeve.

“Avada Kedavra – because there would be no more opponents,” McKennie told CNN Sports, referencing one of the darkest spells from the world of Harry Potter. He quickly realizes that might be a little too dark – “Just playing,” he smiles.

“I’d probably say Expecto Patronum because it’s a shielding spell. Someone (an opponent) shoots on goal, I just hit that spell real quick. Doesn’t mean I don’t believe in goalkeepers… just can never be too sure!”

The 27-year-old McKennie says he used to feel like the odd man out. When the American midfield soccer star arrived at Italian giant Juventus in Turin, he was surrounded by world-class players who all had their own unique goal celebrations.

There was Cristiano Ronaldo with his iconic ‘Siu’ – a leap towards the corner flag, a half turn in the air, sticking the landing with a puffed-out chest and his arms thrust down by his sides. Paulo Dybala would put his hand over his face, mimicking a Roman Gladiator style mask, and Leonardo Bonucci would point to his face in celebration.

“I was never a player that really scored a lot,” McKennie told CNN, but whenever he did find the back of the net, “I would just run back to midfield and line up to go again.”

And then the goals started flowing. “I was like, ‘O.K., let me try and create a signature celebration for myself. What’s unique for me? What do I really like?’” he said. “I loved Harry Potter since I was young, so I was like, ‘O.K., let me just cast a spell.’”

How big a Potter fan is McKennie? “Big enough to have a tattoo of his scar on my finger!”

In January 2021, McKennie scored for Juve in Italy’s Serie A against Bologna, and the first spell was cast, a celebration that featured him rotating his right wrist three times and leaning forward with a pretend wand in his hand.

“I don’t think they really knew what it was or what I was referencing,” he recalled of his teammates’ reactions. “But then, obviously, it stuck – and it was ‘Magic McKennie.’”

Five years later, McKennie says that his celebration has become so iconic that he sees fans doing it in the crowd, and he’s stopped by people in the street, asking to perform the celebration with them in videos.

His foundation, which focuses on the underserved community and in particular children in orphanages, is called McKennie’s Magical Youth Mission, and his Pottermania has also led to a partnership with Harry Potter franchise owner Warner Bros. (like CNN, Warner Bros. is part of the wider Warner Bros. Discovery family).

A normal person with special powers

His bewitching celebration was the very first scene to be featured in the new Tubi documentary series, “Destination World Cup 2026.” McKennie said that he agreed to be featured in the show because he wants to be seen as more than just a soccer player, and he also wanted to dispel some myths about him.

“I think a lot of people forget that we’re just normal people that just happen to be good at playing a sport,” he told CNN Sports. “I feel like it was a good opportunity for me to be able to show everyone that I do like normal things that everyone else likes as well.

“But the one thing I did tell them was, ‘Nothing’s scripted, I’ll give you guys the raw stuff. I’m gonna be myself.’”

McKennie says that after being criticized at times during his career over his weight and conditioning, he wanted to seize control of the narrative for himself.

“I feel like I kind of had a reputation of someone that only likes to have fun, just because of maybe my weight issues that I’ve had in the past,” he said, noting that his critics will now be able to see the work he puts in to his craft. “I have a strong mentality. If I listened to everyone throughout my career, I probably wouldn’t be where I am today

“Because I’ve had so many people that doubted me before my career even started, had people doubt me during my career, still have people that doubt me today. I’m my biggest opponent, and I’m my biggest critic, so nobody can put more pressure on me than I do myself.”

The wand chooses the wizard

Starting his professional career at Schalke in Germany, before making the move to Juventus which featured a brief loan spell at Leeds United, McKennie is a highly versatile outfield player who has established himself as one of the most prominent Americans on the international stage.

Born at Fort Lewis near Tacoma, Washington, his career has taken him on a magical journey that he could never have dreamed of as a young boy.

When he moved to Germany at the age of six, he says that he’d never even heard of soccer. But he quickly fell in love with the Beautiful Game, and the “Destination World Cup 2026” show features footage of his earliest games when he’d sometimes score a handful of goals or more.

Still, McKennie assumed that he was more likely to play American football player as he grew up: “I always ultimately knew we would move back to the States one day and soccer wasn’t big in the States, especially at that time.”

Germany hosted the World Cup in 2006, and a young McKennie had a front row seat for it all.

“There was this moment where I was like, ‘Dang, this is really cool.’ I didn’t know it was this big of a deal.”

He says that if anyone would have told him that one day he’d play in the biggest sporting event on the planet in his home country, he’d have replied: “You’re batsh*t crazy! It’s a full circle moment, not just for me, but for my family as well, my friends, and people that have supported me.”

It’s McKennie’s supportive community, and the setbacks he says he’s encountered, that make the fictional Harry Potter character so relatable.

“Ultimately, I think that there’s always going to be challenges, whenever you think everything is smooth going and all good, there’s something that’s going to pop up, or someone that wants ill for you or doesn’t believe in you,” he told CNN. “Throughout the movie and throughout the books, he constantly had an enemy, or things would pop up that he’d have to find a way out of, and I feel like that’s a good resemblance of my career as well, always being counted out and not being believed in and doubted.

“Something I learned from it? You’ve just got to overcome it, no matter the circumstances or how you do it, you got to have the mentality to overcome it.”

Former U.S. player turned Fox Sports broadcaster Stu Holden has enjoyed watching McKennie’s rise to prominence with the national team.

“He has this incredible self-belief in what he does,” Holden told CNN Sports. “No matter the moment, when he’s up or down, he can persevere and produce a moment of magic. Weston’s a guy that’s always gonna be there, can always be that spark, and can always deliver under pressure.”

“It’s dope to have a celebration people can connect with,” Clint Dempsey – one of the greatest American players of all time – told CNN Sports, crediting McKennie’s ability to bounce back from adversity.

“It’s great to see him playing at his best, and for the US to be successful I think we’re going to need a strong showing from him.”

This summer, McKennie is facing the ultimate challenge: the chance to achieve sporting immortality as a FIFA World Cup winner.

“Any child, or any kid in the world, any player, that’s something you dream about doing,” he said. “For it to be in the US, that would be a memory that would live on forever. Your name and history, that’s something nobody can take away from you.”

It would also be utterly magical.

Don Riddell, CNN