Add Real Madrid to the list of teams to fall victim to the play of Christian Pulisic.
After entering in the 72nd minute, Pulisic made an immediate impact, and would have scored a goal if not for a Keylor Navas save. With his team down, 2-1, Pulisic set up Dortmund’s equalizer, as his cross was blocked away towards Andre Schurrle, who rocketed home a shot to earn Dortmund a 2-2 tie. With the win, Dortmund is unbeaten in five matches across all competitions.
Wonderful work from Pulisic to set up Schurrle's unstoppable equalizer for Dortmund. #UCLonFOX https://t.co/JYkieVRcAS
— FOX Soccer (@FOXSoccer) September 27, 2016
In the Championship, Eric Lichaj was handed the captain’s armband for Nottingham Forest, who tied Tim Ream and Fulham, 1-1. Jonathan Spector’s Birmingham City also settled for a tie with Preston North End, while Gboly Ariyibi’s Chesterfield earned the same result in a six-goal thriller against Gillingham.
Here’s a look at Tuesday’s Americans Abroad:
UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE
Cameron Carter-Vickers dressed but did not play in Tottenham’s 1-0 win over CSKA Moscow.
Christian Pulisic entered as a 72nd minute substitute in Borussia Dortmund’s 2-2 tie to Real Madrid.Â
ENGLISH CHAMPIONSHIP
Jonathan Spector started and played 90 minutes in Birmingham City’s 2-2 tie with Preston North End.
Danny Williams did not dress in Reading’s 4-1 loss to Brentford.
Eric Lichaj and Tim Ream started and played 90 minutes in Nottingham Forest’s 1-1 tie with Fulham. Luca de la Torre did not dress.
ENGLISH LEAGUE ONE
Gboly Ariyibi started and played 90 minutes in Chesterfield’s 3-3 tie with Gillingham.
Duane Holmes started and played 72 minutes in Scunthorpe United’s 4-1 win over Walsall.
Glad the “lets take it slow” chatter with pulisic has finally stopped. I told my wife that 18 year old American just came on against one of the top teams in the world in champions league. She asked how he doesn’t start every game for USA. If she gets it, everyone should. Now we can focus on enjoying him reach his potential.
Maybe I’m kind of corny, but I think it is really neat to hear a foreign announcer talk about the 18 year old American international and throw out praise. After so many years where Americans abroad seemed like an after thought, it’s good to see one recognized by Europeans.
I think it means there is no bias, if a someone’s got game it doesn’t matter where they’re from. fwiw the announcers on my french broadcast were equally praising his “percussion” a great word which means his ability to speed up the game and push the attacking lines forward.
Concorde: Are the French excited about Dembele? I realize the depth and quality of France is greater, but I’ve been very impressed by him since he joined Dortmund.
The French are as excited as French people get. I think in general they don’t hype young players much here, it is not in their nature which is much more analytical. If they deserve to be on the field they will be, but it is understood that without exception the youth is a work in progress.
Yes the pipeline is rich but Dembele was impressing already at Rennes. He scored a lot of goals there for an 18 year old, and set up a bunch too. He’s in the top 5 of upcoming French players, behind Coman and Martial still but ahead of maybe Jean-Kévin Augustin of PSG, and will be in the national team soon enough (Payet, Giroud, Benzema, Gignac, Cabaye, Matuidi are all old or getting up there. My bet is that, from that group of midfielders and attackers, only Benzema will be at the next WC, assuming they qualify).
So am I the only one who wants to leave Pulisic off the October roster just so he can stay in Germany? He doesn’t need to play against Cuba on those field conditions. I can maybe see against New Zealand.
If not let him stay in Germany and solidify his spot in the starting 11. That’s more important than playing in two meaningless friendlies.
I 100% agree. The boy is clearly talented but he’s young and can get injured or burned out. Let him stay in Europe and focus on becoming a starter. Really don’t want too another promising young American career derailed over injuries/club-country mismanagement
A good 2/3s of the BvB roster will be away on international duty. All the other confederations have qualifying either for WC or Regional tourney qualifying. A couple of the Germans on the roster will be around and that’s about it. I’d rather see fringe players for these two games though two.
I agree but wouldn’t this be a good time to try out a new LB and see how FJ and CP22 work on the wings. Get ready for the hex and have actual wingers for once
I think he comes in, still hasn’t played that much for the US and we have huge qualifiers coming up after these friendlies. JK will want to figure out his lineups, maybe only plays in one game if there is a desire to get him back early.
Only flaw that I have seen from CP22 is he is a Justin Bieber fan, hopefully he grows out of that
it’s mind-boggling, really
Hey man, even Supermam had cryptonite … and Lois Lane … and Jimmy!
Neymar’s worse, he’s not just a Bieber fan, but a Bieber buddy.
wow CP22!! it doesn’t get much bigger than that!
It really is pretty amazing that no matter what is thrown at Pulisic, he manages to shine. Play for a top team in the Bundesliga, no problem. Start for that team, no problem. Play in the Copa America, no problem. Start in the Copa America, no problem. Play in the Champions League against the defending champion, no problem. I’d have to say that, barring injury, not only will he be a starter in Moscow in 2018, he could very well be a star in the tournament. We have certainly never seen his like in the US.
I know Morros gets a lot of comparisons to Donovan but every time i see this kid flying down the flank in Germany I think about what could have been with Donovan at Leverkusen. Pulisic is more technically advanced but they’re both without question, a spark plug
When it come to flying down the flank, I have this indelible image of a German player in the World Cup many years ago, flying down the flank and cutting inside to score, with his long blonde hair flowing behind him. That player’s name was jurgen Klinsmann. Maybe that’s an appropriate comparison for Pulisic. I recall Klinsmann had a pretty good international career.
You have to remember that Donovan was initially used by both club & country as a striker. It wasn’t until around 2006 that he was converted to more of a winger role. Originally he was the forward who played off the shoulder of a target striker.
Pulisic on the other hand is much more of a wide midfielder/forward at this time. However, I would be surprised if in 4 yrs (or so) he’s moved inside as a creative attacking midfielder.
Donovan – the best player we’ve ever produced – failed mentally in these exact types of situations with Leverkusen. He was set up in the middle in 2005 CL match, as a starter, vs. Liverpool and Steven Gerrard at the top of his game, and was run off the field, pulled in the 50th min. or so.
For whatever reason he lacked mental toughness or belief that he belonged on the field. Pulisic was fearless and understood the gravity and preciousness of the moment against Ramos, Varane, and company.
I have been on the fence about starting Pulisic against Mexico and Costa Rica in the hex… I’m officially off the fence now! I’d have a hard time arguing we have anyone better on either wing right now. The kid was great again tonight and clearly doesn’t seem to be faltering under pressure.
It’d be crazy not to start him at this point. No game will be bigger than playing Real Madrid at home in front of that crowd.
If only we had an obvious solution at left-back, then our best lineup (as of now) would be pretty obvious (atleast for me). With Jurgen in charge, the lineup is less obvious mainly because he still rates guys like Beckerman and Bedoya. Also because he goes back and forth between a 4-3-3 and 4-4-2.
My obvious Mexico lineup now that Dempsey is out:
————Wood—————Altidore———
Johnson——-Kljestan——Pulisic
——————–Bradley———————
Lb?——Brooks——Cameron-Yedlin
———————–Guzan———————-
LB?–> That’s the issue. You could move Johnson back from mid; or go Chandler out of position, go Acosta, or whoever you want to insert.
Re: Kljesten, some of you might say it’s too soon to go with him after two good games but he’s the hot and only option right now as the “creative/attacking” mid. If it’s not him then you have to move Bradley up or insert Jones. Please don’t bring up Bedoya. I’d take Donovan right now over Bedoya.
I meant to put Howard over Guzan, since Guzan is now on the bench.
Without knowing who’s firing on all cylinders just prior to the game, my only guess is FJ slides to LB and Bedoya on the wing.
I’ll state 1st and foremost I’m not a fan of Kljestan. While he’s been good with his club and has done well against weak opponents, I don’t think he’s as capable against teams of a higher caliber. IMO he lacks the needed speed and is a defensive liability. I’d much rather have someone like Nagbe slot into that role.
As for who plays Left Back….it’s going to come down to who gets a shot during the October friendlies or Fabian. I don’t think the usual cast of players (Acosta, Garza, Shea, etc….) are up to starting against Mexico or Costa Rica. IMO there are only 3 options…Villafana, Chandler or Fabian. The question will be does replacing Bedoya with Fabian in midfield, and inserting ??? into the defense improve the overall quality of the team?
We need to be careful in the November Qualifiers. We are facing our 2 biggest rivals in CONCACAF. We need to be sure we are fielding our best possible line-up and formation. If we come away with 4-6 points we’ll be able to experiment more against some of the weaker opponents in 2017.
The problem with the 4-3-3 was Dempsey and somewhat Bobby Wood and Jozy. You want a combination of 2 of those 3 out there which means one has to be a wing and play much more defense. Morris also falls into that category of better in the center and not having to track back. If you put one out there in the middle and let Pulisic and FJ or Zardes upon his return its good. Jozy or Bobby can play on the wing against weaker opponents when we’ll have most of the possession, but not Mexico or Costa Rica on the road.
I’d like to see Villafana in Cuba and seems like a reasonable solution given his Liga Mx experience for Mexico. After him it seems it has to be FJ given the competition. Castillo is hurt, Garza hurt, Shea has been moved back to MF, Accosta plays MF, Yedlin had some time there in preseason but none at Newcastle. The only other option seems to be Besler, Chandler, or Lichaj out of position.
Bedoya will make the qualifiers and probably Zusi too, just prepare yourself.
Has there been any word on Yedlin’s injury? I’m still not a fan of Acosta at fullback.
Jack: He posted a post match tweet to the fans and didn’t say anything about being injured if that means anything.
yeah we can officially stop questioning whether he’s ready for the big time….the pace and ball control he showed to whiz past the defender into space to create an opportunity was special smh
Working over Real Madrid a couple of times in a Champions League game is a pretty decent substitute appearance, I would say.
CP22 came on and definitely made an impact for BVB. Created 2 corners, had a shot on goal (though maybe he could have passed for a better opportunity but with the defenders position it would have been tough), also pretty much created the equalizing goal even though can’t quite give him the assist. Gave RM defenders plenty to handle and looked every bit the level of top champions league competition. Barring injury he will break the record by a good margin for most expensive american player ever if BVB sells.
I don’t care that he’ll break the record for an American in the transfer market. What I care about is that he’s likely to be our first legitimate star in Europe. As much as I’ve been impressed with players like Cladio, Dempsey, Donovan, Friedel, Howard, McBride and the rest of the trail blazers….this kid looks to be set to top them all.
BvB won’t sell him and he don’t wanna go. You see how fired up he was after the goal? BvB is his club.. and its a good real good one.