Top Stories

Christian Pulisic scores as Borussia Dortmund falls in German SuperCup

Christian Pulisic kept a strong preseason going with a goal, but he missed out on a trophy on Saturday

The American teenager provided Borussia Dortmund’s opening goal and strong play throughout the night, despite falling against Bayern Munich in penalties after a 2-2 draw in the German SuperCup.

Pulisic opened the scoring in the 12th minute in spectacular fashion. The young American stole the ball from Javi Martinez just inside the Bayern half before calmly dribbling forward and slipping the ball in.

https://streamable.com/jw9gc

His goal was canceled out by Robert Lewandowski’s six minutes later. Joshua Kimmich set the move up be breaking a Dortmund offside trap, receiving a long pass and sliding a cross to the Polish international forward for the tap in.

Dortmund went back in front in the 71st minute with a quick counterattack spearheaded by Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. The Gabonese forward bolted down the right flank and hammered his shot home as Pulisic crept in from the opposite side. Munich were able equalize on a moment of chaos in the 88th minute. A Lewandowski free kick was headed off the crossbar before it bounced around in a sea of legs. Kimmich got the final touch that finally put the ball over the line, which was later issued an own-goal to Roman Burki.

Pulisic was subbed out in the final minute of regulation, so he missed out on the penalty shootout. The two sides traded goals until the third round of the shootout, when Kimmich saw his shot saved by Burki. Aubameyang gave his team a short-lived lead with the next shot, but Sebastian Rode’s fourth round shot was stopped and the teams were level again. Munich took the title by a 5-4 score in the sixth round when Niklas Sule scored for them and Sven Ulreich saved Marc Bartra’s shot.

It was Bayern Munich’s sixth SuperCup title overall and third in a row.

Pulisic and his Borussia Dortmund side have one more preseason match and a German Cup game before they open their Bundesliga campaign on August 19 against VfL Wolfsburg.

Comments

  1. His goal was a nice finish after a horrible Bayern mistake.
    After that he was pretty much invisible the rest of the game.

    Reply
    • He played a far better game than the usually exciting Dembele. Seriously, I don’t remember Dembele completing a pass in the first half. Multiple opportunities broke down at his feet.

      Reply
      • I thought same thing about Dembele as well! I think he split a double team once the whole game. Rather then play a quick high percentage ball he held the ball inviting traps. i wonder if Dembele can be affective against top flight clubs? The last time Dortmund played BM they looked totally outclassed.

      • Good points. Dembele is usually one of the more entertaining things about Dortmund. How high is his ceiling vs. Pulisic (or other guys in this age group in Europe)? Any thoughts?

      • I’m with you on this. Dembele’s preseason hasn’t looked good at all. He had a few good dribbles here and there in this game, but overall a horrible performance.

  2. I was also struck by how fine the margins are for these young players. 12 months ago Renato Sanches was the next big thing. Now when they talk about the young bundesliga stars it’s Dembele, pulisic and kimmich (although kimmich has a few years on the other three). There’s not much margin for error (or failure to stand out) at these top clubs. Kimmich has stood out but he also has much less competition at full back than Sanches has in midfield. Now the latter may be loaned out. Unfathomable coming out of 2016 Euros.

    The biggest compliment I can give pulisic is that he’s thriving despite a very crowded stable of competing talent at Dortmund. Sure Reus’ avian bird syndrome body has benefited CP but he’s forcing a handful of internationals (in their prime) to backup dury.

    Reply
    • Renato Sanches was also playing on a stacked Bayern Munich side that is one of the strongest in Europe. I still think he has loads of talent, and the hype was warranted.

      Reply
      • My consensus on Sanchez is he does not orchestrate the offense. Moving the ball into the right spots, to the right players, and most of all at the right time. On BM if Robben, Robert, or Lewie make a run and not see the ball you can bet Sanchez hears it directly on the field and tenfold in the lockeroom. With Portugal they have a player who is kind of a big deal and does not stand for another selfish player.

      • Kind of brings up a (tangentially) interesting question…. Who is the first-choice penalty taker for the USMNT “A” team right now? Probably it’s Dempsey, but assuming he is not on the field, who would be the person to take the ball if we were to draw a penalty in, say, the first game of the WC cup next summer? Very few of our guys are actually primary PK takers at the club level, and nobody has seemed as automatic as LD did.

        Thoughts?

      • Yeah agree. Prob Jozy. How do we feel about that? I mostly like it– guy is a proven goal-scorer with a cannon right leg and a dozen-plus scored penalties in competitive games. But he also has yo-yo confidence and tends to be his own worst enemy. Not exactly ideal. Then again…. Joe Corona

      • Hey, Corona had all the confidence in the world taking the ball from Dwyer and putting it on the spot vs. Nicaragua….after that though, lol.

  3. I was hoping Dortmund pulled out the win but Pulisic looked good. Great at applying pressure on the ball and forcing turnovers. Also draws a lot of fouls in dangerous spots. His goal was calm and well taken. He misplaced a few final balls (one to Aubamayang and a chip to Dembele) but even his misses are bold.

    Any fears that he’d be overlooked for schurrle or kagawa under the new coach seem misplaced. Only AM/wing ahead of him is Dembele (and Reus, on the rare occasion he is healthy).

    Reply

Leave a Comment