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Christian Pulisic scores first pro goal, helps Dortmund rebound

Christian-Pulisic-Dortmund-Getty

Borussia Dortmund couldn’t really be blamed for a bit of a post-loss hangover after last Thursday’s dramatic UEFA Europa League loss to Liverpool, but an American youngster helped the German power snap out of it.

U.S. Men’s National Team midfielder Christian Pulisic scored his first professional goal on Sunday, helping spark a Borussia Dortmund 3-0 win against Hamburg.

Dortmund struggled to open the scoring against Hamburg, but Pulisic did the honors in the 38th minute when he finished a combination play with Mats Hummels before blasting a perfectly-placed shot inside the goalkeeper’s near post to make the score 1-0.

Dortmund added two more goals to run away with the victory after Hamburg drew a red card early in the second half.

Here is Pulisic’s first professional goal:

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What do you think of Pulisic’s first pro goal? See him earning more starts this season?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. Thomas Tuchel video from bundesliga.com: “For Christian, it’s a very, very important goal and we see his techniques and his ability to adapt on this level every day in training, and that’s why we trust him. We’re very happy that he can show it in our stadium.”

    Reply
    • and then being invited back into the team and studding out for the coach, whoever it is then, who smartly then welcomes him back with open arms
      cheers, I can do this endlessly with the truth on my side…you?

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      • Sorry, you can do what exactly endlessly? Also, what truth are you attempting to insert towards my obvious and sarcastic comment that (I didn’t believe) was worth any kind of emotional response.

        Rock out to some Foo Fighters “Hero” and take a deep breath, Bum.

      • sure, I’ll take a deeep breath and reply endlessly with the truth about Cambodia, sarcastic one. my pleasure, thanks for your help and insight as always

  2. In the what do we have to lose category for Copa America
    —————Wood——————–
    Pulisic———————-Johnson–
    ——Bradley——Nagbe————-
    —————Cameron—————–
    Villafana–Brooks-Birnbaum–Yedlin
    ——–Bingham/Yarbrough——

    Subs: GK: Guzan
    Def: Besler, Shea, Spector
    Mids: Hyndman, Beckerman, Zusi, Nguyen
    For: Dempsey, Altidore, Finlay

    Alternates: Jones, Williams, Bedoya, Lletget

    Maybe start Altidore or Dempsey in the opener vs Colombia and bring in CP off the bench, but start him the rest of the way.

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    • I like that this lineup looks towards the future. I wouldn’t mind seeing Horvath in goal. It’s still tough to sit Dempsey though because of his productivity. An attacking midfield of Pulisic, Nagbe, and Johnson is pretty potent. At what point does Bradley’s starting spot become less than guaranteed?

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      • I thought of Harvath after I posted. I think if we were to play this formation its really lends itself to Bradley’s abilities. Dempsey would certainly start one or two matches, with 3 games in 7 or 8 days. I think you would rotate Pulisic, Altidore, Dempsey, and Wood to keep everyone fresh. We’ve got a month before we start prep let’s see where we are then Jones and Morris made cases on Saturday let’s see if they can keep that up and if everyone else can stay healthy.

    • I like the lineup. Villafaña hasn’t even been called up so I can’t put him in a potential lineup yet for me. So I’d move fj back for him. Wood to the right with altidore up top or wood on the bench and P-Sick on the right with altidore and Dempsey up top and on the left.

      Also I am a big fan of birnbaums old school cb style but wouldn’t miazga be an option at least? Over Spector surely.

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      • DLOA: No Miazga because we have too many CBs when we are healthy. Villafana because we are firmly aware of what all the other LBs can do can. Spector because who else do you want as the back up RB? Cameron could certainly move there if Yedlin went down and I would imagine FJ could as well in a pinch. If we are playing essentially a 4-3-3 I don’t like FJ at LB because he tends to run out of space when he comes forward because everyone makes runs into where he wants to go. I’d rather have him on the wing where he and CP can be constantly switching sides and pressing the backline and forcing turnovers. This line up may give you a 4-3 loss but it would be exciting.

      • Had to come up with someone as a back up Right back. And I left Zardes with your Galaxy so they wouldn’t suffer too much. And let’s wait and see if Morris can have another good game, before we bring him back.

  3. Rumors have Gundogan and Rues moving this Summer should open up more time for Christian next season. Hopefully, they keep Aubameyang though to keep the defense occupied.

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  4. Serious question: how can we make more Young players like Pulisic? Given the gap in the quality of training and speed of play between the US and Europe, is the size of the USA’s young elite talent pool limited by the proportion of our population that has dual citizenship?

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    • Go watch the tape of him on youtube at age 9 and 10. He was already amazing then. We need to emphasize first touch and ball control more than anything for the kids. Small sided games and number of touches will help.

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    • Find more kids whose dad was a pro, get to live in England for more than a year when they are just learning the basics of the game oh and then go on trials to all the major clubs in Europe throughout your teen years and have a European passport to make it much easier to choose which club is best for them.

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      • Right, my point exactly. Hyndman also pretty much fits the profile you describe. To become a world power we need to have 20 Hyndman/Pulisic level prospects. We’ll never have the numbers to get there as long as a European passport is a requirement. Why isn’t this part of our national soccer conversation?

    • The “Key” to developing more players like Pulisic is to focus on the fundamentals of soccer at a very young age (U-8/U-10). Having more clubs/academies that start at this age bracket and focus on trapping, passing, ball & player movement at a young age will increase the possibility of finding & developing more players like Pulisic.

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      • That is all well and good and will certainly help with widening the talent pool of mid-level players. However, “special” players should not be an expectation of those academies. Those players happen and find a way no matter where they come from. Expecting an academy to produce 17 year olds who start and score goals for big champions league clubs is extremely unrealistic.

        What the Galaxy and FC Dallas academies have done for producing good young players is great for improving the player pool for players 7-22 on the roster. The top 3 though will always be anomalies and you can’t really credit a club or a training methodology for making it fully happen.

  5. I really just can’t temper my excitement over this kid. The first touch on the goal is money and the shot is inch perfect. His movement off the ball and vision are really what excite me though. We’ve had a lot of young players who are really athletic, but for such a young player to show that kind of calmness on the ball in a tight space, and a general high soccer IQ is something else. HOW IS HE ONLY 17???

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    • I’m with ya, I’ve long seen that we needed players with a certain level of comfort and ease on the ball. If you could put P-Sick’s ability to ‘calmly trap, possess, assess, and respond with the proper pass’ into a box and duplicate it, then inject it into all 11 of our fielded lineup every game, we’d be a top 10 nation imHo

      Simply put, he plays like a seasoned European… But he’s 17…… And American….. Exciting to watch him develop

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  6. Nice goal, well taken and well placed. Was happy to see just about the entire team running over to celebrate with him. May be nothing but, seems they really like the kid.

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  7. Well taken. Maybe it’s early, but it looks like he is for real. Could he be a US mainstay for the next 3 or 4 World Cups?

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    • As long as he can stay healthy there is no reason to think he couldn’t be part of the team for 4 cycles. 2018 he’ll be 19, 2022 he’ll be 23, 2026 he’ll be 27, 2030 he’d be 31. His ability to play just about anywhere in the attack gives him and the coach more opportunities to get him into the line-up. Add in the US Teams current weakness at wide positions and there is a very good chance that he may be in the starting XI by 2018.

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    • yep, looks very smooth, good ball skills, and moves intelligently. only thing is he’s still pretty small, so i hope he’s not done growing yet.

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      • okay, i stand corrected–if he turns out to be as good as messi, then i don’t care if he gets bigger.

      • Height and size don’t mean a thing, as long as he JS balance and skill. Besides, He’s already as tall as everyone’s favorite sweetheart, Landon Donovan.

        The “he’s too small” mentality among the majority of American soccer “coaches” is ridiculous.

      • jesus, you guys, thanks for pointing out that smaller guys can be good at soccer. i honestly had never heard of messi or donovan, so i appreciate the education.

        my point was that, yes actually, height and size *do* mean something, and while obviously pulisic is already good at his current size, he could be an even greater threat with some added height and bulk. it was a simple and not-very-controversial comment–no need to make it an indictment of u.s. soccer as a whole.

      • I know what your point was. I can read. My point is that you are 100% wrong. Bigger and stronger is not better than smarter and quicker.

      • “I know what your point was. I can read. My point is that you are 100% wrong. Bigger and stronger is not better than smarter and quicker.”

        then maybe the shortcoming lies not in your reading comprehension, but in your critical thinking. you actually believe that smaller and weaker athletes are always smarter and quicker?

      • I, for one, agree that a bit of extra meat would help the kid, at least to get less beat-up in a beat-you-up confederation like CONCACAF. That being said, with the exception of a few genetic abnormalities, no male is finished growing at age 17. Those who don’t gain much more height will at least fill out a bit.

    • Honestly I hope not. If he is a mainstay at 27 then that means he has no competition in the position and we have no made true progress as a footballing nation. We need 15 of these guys (in terms of talent level and drive)

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      • Don’t understand your comment. He started for the second best team in one of the top 3 leagues in the world and he is only 17. At 27 he should be in his prime. There has never been an American player who has done this well this young.

      • There have been lots of Germans who have done this well this young… and then were never heard from again.

        Slotting into a good team is a lot easier than getting your career going on a bad team. Sometimes those factors hide quality.

  8. There is an interesting contrast in that Morris and Pulisic scored their first goals the same weekend. I will just leave it at that.

    Reply

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