IRVINE, Calif. — The biggest save of the World Cup for the U.S. men’s national team might have come from a golf cart dealership owner, ESPN has learned.
Strange as it might sound, the story began last Sunday. It was an off day for the players, so Christian Pulisic, Weston McKennie and Alejandro Zendejas left the team’s hotel in Laguna Niguel and went into town to get some pizza. After finishing their food, they tried to get a rideshare back but quickly learned they were stuck: a massive traffic accident had shuttered one side of Pacific Coast Highway. There was no way for a car to get through.
Traffic was stopped for hours, and this wasn’t ideal.
They were several miles from the hotel and the notion of walking all the way back didn’t seem feasible. Beyond the heat and sun, how would walking 40 minutes along the side of the road affect Pulisic’s injured calf? The possibility that going for pizza might end up further injuring the American team’s star felt real.
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Then they saw it: SC Carts, a dealership in Dana Point that specializes in high-end, street-legal golf carts. The lot was just down the street, and several carts were sitting outside.
“With Christian’s calf, we definitely didn’t want to walk,” McKennie told ESPN. “I was the only one in flip-flops, but it was far. So, we thought, maybe we could figure something out with a cart.”
When ESPN reached out to the business’s owner, Cole Schamber, he said he initially had no idea who he was talking to when three guys (one carrying pizza boxes) turned up inquiring about carts.
“I’m not a soccer fan: I just run my business, so I don’t even have a chance to watch much TV,” he told ESPN. “It was only when people started asking them for pictures that I realized what was happening. And then they also mentioned that they play for the U.S. soccer team.”
Schamber said that the players were very polite and seemed genuinely interested in the carts. “He was showing us all the features — CarPlay and all the speakers and everything,” McKennie said. “To be fair, we were pretty into it.”
The players looked closely at the Voyager Patriot 6-Seater Lifted LSV and Bintelli Nexus 6-Seater Lifted LSV, Schamber said, both of which “are very solid options.” (LSV stands for “low-speed vehicle” as the carts do need to be properly registered but have maximum speeds of about 25 mph.)
Initially, Schamber said, the players inquired about renting a cart — both for the day and potentially for the rest of their stay in the area. Only that was a nonstarter, though, because SC Carts doesn’t do rentals.
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Then there was a brief discussion between the players about purchasing a cart. That would have come with a price around $9,000, Schamber said. He listened as the players discussed sharing the costs as well, and what they might do with the cart once their stay in the area was complete.
One option that was briefly on the table, Schamber said, was to buy the cart, use it during the World Cup and then ship it to Pulisic’s house in Florida. “He said his family could use it and I offered some shipping contacts,” Schamber said. “But that didn’t seem to make sense to them.”
McKennie said the players were just trying to figure out any way they could to get back.
“We were like, ‘OK, we’ll just walk,'” he said, “and then he saved us.”
Once Schamber realized that, in reality, the most pressing issue for the players was the short-term concern about reaching the hotel, he suggested another idea. “I never like to take advantage of someone, and I had to deliver a new cart that was sort of in the direction of the hotel,” he said. “So, I offered them a ride on that cart.”
The players gratefully accepted, but even then, it was tricky to get out as a car of fans driving the opposite direction on the road had spotted the players and, according to Schamber, “parked their car in the median and ran over to try and get pictures. The players were very nice.”
Once that was done, Pulisic, McKennie and Zendejas jumped into the new cart, and Schamber weaved around the accident site before safely delivering them to the hotel.
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“It was a little side quest,” McKennie said. “It could have been a lot worse, but it worked out as well as possible. The guy was so chill. We’re really grateful to him.”
Schamber, who said he has sold carts to several UFC stars as well as Alex Hall, the host of the TV show “Selling the OC,” wasn’t disappointed that his meeting with the U.S. players didn’t result in a sale. “They were good guys,” he said. “When I dropped them off at the valet stand, we fist-bumped and I told them, ‘You know where to find me if you want to buy a cart.'”
He added, “They seemed really happy to be back.”
