Christian Pulisic: U.S. Soccer’s Next Big Thing
“Just a kid from Hershey.”
That’s what the U.S. Men’s Soccer team’s Twitter caption was after Christian Pulisic tore apart the Panama defense in the first half of their World Cup Qualifying match this past Friday night. Pulisic proved to fans all around the globe that he is anything but a kid, and he certainly didn’t play like one. On a night where the U.S. desperately needed a win to keep its World Cup hopes alive, the team’s brightest young star shone through.
The Borussia Dortmund and U.S. midfielder had a goal and an assist in the first half against Panama. He ripped through the Panama defense the entire time he was on the field, all the way up until he was withdrawn in the 57th minute. Pulisic opened the scoring in the 8th minute with a jaw-dropping goal after fielding a pass from Jozy Altidore, slicing through the back line, and sliding past the goal keeper to put the ball into an empty net from the right-hand side.
Then, in the 19th minute, Wonderboy’s magic continued. He fielded a deep ball after a perfectly-timed run, used some fancy footwork to get past his defender, and delivered a perfect ball into the box for Jozy Altidore, who beat the keeper for the team’s second goal of the night.
It was the latest in a series of brilliant performances both for club and country. Oh, and he’s only 19 years old.
The young star has, outside of one lackluster performance in a home defeat against Costa Rica, been brilliant for the United States throughout this World Cup Qualifying run. He has appeared in 12 games, 10 of them starts and registered 6 goals and 6 assists. His assist total ranks him first and his goal total third in CONCACAF 2018 World Cup Qualifying.
As far as his club performance goes, he has appeared in 7 games for Dortmund this Bundesliga season and has so far registered 2 goals and an assist. That sounds average, but when you consider he only scored 3 goals all of last season, where he appeared in 30 games, he is on pace to make substantial improvement for his club this year.
Yet another testament to how good Pulisic is, is the beating he absorbed from Panamanian players. They played him physically the entire time he was on the field. It was the only way they were going to be able to stop him, but he took it in stride and was largely un-phased. He was fouled three times and eventually subbed out in the 57th minute to save him from further harm and keep him fresh for Tuesday’s match against Trinidad and Tobago.
After facing heavy criticism from soccer analysts and fans and having their backs against the wall, the U.S. team came out Thursday and responded with a statement 4–0 win. And, they all but punched their ticket to Russia in 2018. The job isn’t finished, as they have one more match this Tuesday in Trinidad. But, as long as they get a win or draw, they should be through to the World Cup. And to top it all off, they did it behind their best young player.
Rejoice, U.S. soccer fans, the team’s World Cup hopes have been saved, and the future looks very bright.
All stats courtesy of Fox Sports and ESPN.
