Jurgen Klinsmann is certainly aware of what Christian Pulisic is accomplishing with Borussia Dortmund, but the U.S. Men’s National Team head coach isn’t going to rush the young prospect into the senior team picture.
The 17-year-old playmaker earned his first German Bundesliga start for the club this past weekend following a series of substitute performances. In total, Pulisic has appeared in five of Borussia Dortmund’s past six games while solidifying himself as an integral part of the first team’s plans.
With the Copa America Centenario and key World Cup qualifiers on the horizon, Klinsmann says he is keeping expectations steady with regards to Pulisic’s development.
“I think giving him compliments, giving him encouragement but just keeping things on the ground is really important right now,” Klinsmann said following Sunday night’s Copa America draw. “I’ll talk to his coach, I’ll talk to him and just keep things balanced because that’s a lot for not even an 18-year-old. So we’ll keep things grounded, but we are excited that we have a talent like him coming through the ranks.”
Pulisic’s rise through one of Germany’s top teams brings to mind the case of Julian Green, who joined the USMNT for the 2014 World Cup. While Green has fallen from both the U.S. senior team and Bayern Munich first team picture in the past year or so, Klinsmann says it is unfitting to compare the two cases of American prospects.
“Every moment is different, and every player’s situation is different,” he said, “but just to monitor (Pulisic) right now and see him getting minutes with Dortmund is exciting for us, there’s no doubt about it. But what consequence that has maybe toward the summer we’ll see. We’ll take it one day at a time.”
What do you think of Klinsmann’s comments? Is Pulisic ready to join the first team?
Share your thoughts below.
American Coach American Mentality American Players American results!!! Arena, Bradley..etc.
Quick, someone in MLS file a discovery claim!
By the way, he’s only been there since January 2015. This isn’t supposed to be possible! An American playing really well at 17 in Germany despite honing his craft at Pennsylvania Classics Academy until 16.
Name a 17 year-old other than Pele who had a major impact with his national team in the World Cup. Even Messi and Ronaldo were a few years older before their first World Cups and neither was really had quite the impact one might expect.
If the US fans are looking for Pulisic, Greene, Hyndman, or Zelalem to suddenly turn the US into world beaters in the next year or two, they will be disappointed. All of those guys have good talent, but they are still just kids and playing against men, it will show, in physicality or in tactical acumen, or both. Growth is what their careers are about right now and that takes time, maturity and learning.
Messi was 19 when he played in his first WC, Neymar scored his first international goal against the US at 18, Ronaldo was 19 when he scored in his first Euro event. Rooney scored his first English goal at 17 and had a brace at 18 in the Euros, Raheem Sterling was 18 when he first started a match for England, Maradonna made his debut at 16 in a friendly although left off the WC squad as a 17 year old (Argentina still won). Donovan was 18 when he scored his first US goal against Mexico.
In no way am I saying he will be as good as any of these guys, but he is not far off the age that players begin to get call ups with national teams. Is he a little young for the Copa sure but not the Olympics, he’ll be almost 19 by the WC and certainly should be considered if he continues to play at Dortmund over the next two years.
Great list of young players who did well as teenagers. But still none other than Pele was really the star that led the team.
I am sure you could name a lot more players who made a quick splash as a teenager and then floundered to repeat that moment of brilliance. My point was that simply put, it is not possible to predict which young players will become great. (If someone could, world soccer powers would already employ them and would not need to spend so much money casting a wide net in the hopes of finding a single star.)
I haven’t been reading on the site much lately so I don’t know if it has been posted about Pulisic and where he developed. He started with Steve Klein in Lancaster, PA. In my opinion Klein is one of the limited number of USDA coaches that is capable of developing a player to play at a very high level. What he does to develop players “amish country” is impressive. Pulisic was also brought in by Schellscheidt to the U14 national camp as a 12 year old. He is an example of what could happen when our best players are coached by our best coaches.
He’ll probably get sent back to the reserve team now that he got a taste of what professional football looks like. Dortmund doesn’t need a 17 year old to save them and if you watched him this weekend you have to admit he doesn’t have much to offer to the first team just yet. As far as the USNT, if your national team depends on an unproven 17 year old at any point then you have way bigger problems than anybody can help you with.
why do people still talk like Greens career is already over. he is 20 years on and playing for one of the best team in the world reserve team. At 20 not one usmnt player would make the first team. Pep after the winter training camp praised Green. I think a lil down the road once the season is coming to an end and the bundesliga is clinched (I know it basically is now) Green will probably get some first team mins to see where he is at.
The Donovan crowd will never forget that Green went to the WC and Landon didn’t and will always cheer Green’s lack of top flight minutes. For that matter they jump on the Brad Davis and Graham Zusi are washed up bandwagon too, but SBI doesn’t have much reason to right articles about those two.
The educated Donovan crowd know it was Davis and Wondolowski who took Donovan’s potential spot. Klinsmann said he rated Donovan as a forward and Wondo was the least used forward on the team. Davis was the “specialist” mold that Donovan would have brought to the team(late free-kick taker and crosser).
There is no reason for people to get upset over Green going and Donovan not. Heck, it even worked out, HE SCORED A GOAL. A coach bringing a young guy to experience the world cup isnt crazy. What is sad is that Klinsmann turned to him instead of Davis. If Donovan was on the bench you know he would have been put it. But as I said, Green did his job and above so no problem with him. The problem was Davis, who was a waste on the field when he played, and Wondo which I do not even want to get into because it makes me sad knowing it could have been Donovan in that position.
P.S. Of course it wouldn’t have been exactly the same if Donovan went instead of Wondolowski, but it doesn’t make the pain go away.
That_Guy, i couldnt have said it better. Most soccer knowledgable fans understand that most NT programs will bring a young player or 2 with them to a WC for the exact same reasons JK did. The fact that JK even fixed his lips and his brain to suggest that Wondo and B Davis were taken over him was an insult to a lot of peoples knowledge of players, the game and their fandom. Considering Wondo and Davis rarely played but when they did, shit the bed, was even more of an insult to people but its what JK wanted. Fans will always wonder what if, and thats the thing thats hardest to get over
The closest comparison would be Donovan not Green. Success in the U17 leading to time in the Bundesliga. Will Pulisic continue to find regular time or run back to the US time will tell.
Different situations. Pulisic’s dad is over there with him. I believe he is coaching somewhere – maybe in Dortmond’s youth ranks. But this kid was bred to be a world-class player.
No situation is exactly the same, I am just saying age and hype wise Pulisic is closer to LD than Green. Philadelphia Union has to be pulling for him to get homesick though. Does any MLS team have his rights?
Assistant coach for their U-10 team…wonder what kind of paycheck he pulls for that.
ha. Good comparison.. Landy cakes
Klinsmann doesn’t want to do another Green, who had little credentials to be on a WC side, and now has even less. But he needs to look at every choice through a different prism, not let past mistakes influence this decision.
Those two situations and circumstances have nothing to do with one another.
Klinsmann supporters and non-Klinsmann supporters alike I think are on the same page that his inclusion was likely an agreement for signing on with the United States. Credentials were not the reasoning.
That would be a good poll question because I don’t think that many people believe that at all. Green wasn’t stupid he saw almost everyone on the German team was also in front of him at Bayern. His chances to make the German lineup in 2018 was in doubt even if he continued to progress. JK brought him, Yedlin, Brooks to build experience for 2018 not because he signed backroom deals with them.
“That would be a good poll question because I don’t think that many people believe that at all.”
Even more interesting would be if we later hear from JK or Green, years from now, the truth. Personally, I’d wager money there was an agreement.
I wouldn’t doubt there was a “if you come with us I’ll bring you to camp”, but a promise of the WC is pretty far fetched.
If you look at Green’s resume before the 2014 World Cup and after the 2014 World Cup I don’t see how anyone could come to any other conclusion other than there was an agreement. Still has not shown sustained quality at any level above the 4th division in the Bundesliga.
Unless Pulisic gets substancial playing time in the USMNT, I would prefer to see Pulisic on the U-23’s (Morris, as well) to attempt to qualify for the Olympics. Get the kid on the field to further his development.
“Pulisic’s rise through one of Germany’s top teams brings to mind the case of Julian Green” – except that Pulisic is actually getting on the field.
That said, there is no need for him to play for the USMNT or the U-23s right now. If he keeps getting first team minutes at a club like Dortmund there will be many many USMNT caps in his future.
I’m sorry but if he’s good enough to play with the U-23’s he should. He’s about the same age as CCV who is getting a run out with the 23’s, so why not intergrate him into the team for a 2 legged series that according to US Soccer is critical to our program and the continued development of our young players. Pulisic is actually playing first team football, something CCV has yet to do and CP is already a part of the youth nt set up so whats the concern? I know there is no guarantee he’ll be released by BVB for the Olympic Qualifier, no less the Olympics itself, but if getting to Rio this summer is a priority like US Soocer has deemed it then we need all hands on deck.
He is about 9 months younger than CCV. CCV is end of December 1997. Christian is Mid Sept 1998. That is not close enough in youth soccer terms to say “close enough in age.” I am not saying he isnt talented enough to play with the U23s, I am just saying that hes not really that close in age to CCV.
My memory is a little hazy about all the players hyped up by U.S. fans over the last few years but here is my USMNT All-Time Hype Team:
Green——-Altidore——-Gyau
—————–Adu—————
———Pulisic—–Bradley——-
Chandler–Brooks–Miazga–Yedlin
————–Howard—————-
I wasn’t as tuned into the NT back when Donovan, DMB, Reyna, and JOB were coming up the youth ranks, and while I’m sure there was excitement, Internet forums have allowed for the hype of players to explode. I’m sure Dempsey could be added to this list, but I would slot him in where Adu is listed and Adu’s hype WAY outweighed Dempsey’s. Thoughts?
What’s your point most of these guys you named were regulars in the top leagues in the world, only Howard could be considered a star, but most saw regular time or are under 24 and haven’t had time to prove hype to be justified or not.
Johnyrazor- No real point, just a fun exercise. We as US fans hype up our prospects like crazy. Just tried to come up with a starting XI based on the most hyped players in the past to see what a starting lineup would look like if they all panned out as we hoped. Some panned out others didn’t.
What about that kid we used to have at Leverkusen? He was a certain star.
KenC- Donovan could very well have been on this list, but I wasn’t following the team as closely to really speak about the level of hype that received. The media wasn’t following soccer hardly at all and websites like SBI weren’t as prevalent when Donovan was coming up, so the hype was a little more subdued (or so its seems). I’d happily slot him in over Gyau if I’m wrong. This was just meant as a fun exercise.
Clint never had hype. He played for Fulham, and every year, the new coach would sit Clint on the bench, until he had no choice but to play Clint. Hard to get hyped about that. Then, the whole Tottenham stint was ill-fated to begin with, given how Clint left Fulham.
I like your list I’ll just add a wrinkle or two…
RUN DMB——Altidore——-J GATT
————Adu —— LANDON———-
—–————–Bradley——————
Chandler–Brooks — Miazga–Yedlin
_ EVERY YOUTH GK PROSPECT _
He’ll probably keep getting limited minutes thru the end of the club season. Get a call up in the run up to the Centenario and make the 23.. getting some mins like he’s doing now.
He’s passed all of our recent favorites in the span of a month, green, zelalem, hyndman
He is a kid. He has plenty enough on his plate to challenge him just with building his career, adjusting to professional life, a high end team in a top end league, forming habits around training etc. Adding National Team duties on another continent, the travel, another system, the press that is sure to go along with that…… seems counter productive if his interest is being considered. Leave him where he is, doing what he’s doing with one of the better development systems in the world. Seems to be working out pretty good for him…. which will work out pretty good for the National team in the end. So I guess…. credit where it is due- JK’s tone seems about right on this. Thankfully- I most certainly trust Borussia Dortmund to be an advocate for their player/his longterm growth as well.
No need to call him in against Guatemala, let him continue to get settled. There should be 2-3 friendlies before the Copa, so that could help get him implemented into the Sr squad a bit. I think he’ll play the stacking super sub off the bench this summer a la Yedlin. Who has a better chance of breaking down Colombia, CR and Paraguay….a guy getting minutes and looking solid for Borussia freakin Dortmund, or Ethan Finlay/Gyassi Zardes etc?
He passed Green a while back, Green never saw real minutes with his team.
Dortmund could decide tomorrow, he got a taste of what the big stage looks like now we’re sending him back down to Dortmund 2 to keeping working on things. We just don’t know what they have planned or how this will progress really.
Even if this happens he still passed Green, don’t remember Green ever getting meaningful minutes.
* make that “…learn from his mistakes.”
sorry, but the only way he plays for dortmund 2 is if he loses half his skill. dortmund 2 players usually arent that highly rated
My point exactly. If this is a wise approach for Pulisic, it should have also applied to Green.
Perhaps JK, like most other humans, can learn from their mistakes? Or maybe it’s like he always says – no two scenarios are exactly alike. Pick your pick.
He never rushed Green. Green was going on 20 instead of 17 and was really having an impact at the end of the Bayern reserves. His decesion to give him the last 15 minutes in an almost certain loss never hurt green, but instead it was greens wondergoal that sermounted warented potential on him.
This is a wise approach. He’s on a top Bundesliga club, but he’s still young and has very limited first-team experience. It’s not like he’s ready for a big international senior tournament.
Wait, what?