Borussia Dortmund has hit a bit of a rough patch, but Christian Pulisic is trying to keep things in perspective.
It’s been a rough month for the 19-year-old star. After scoring the lone goal in the U.S. Men’s National Team’s disaster of a 2-1 loss to Trinidad & Tobago, Pulisic has returned to a Dortmund team that has struggled in recent weeks. The German powerhouse has won just one of its last six matches in all competitions.
As a result, Dortmund is all but out of the Champions League while a five-point Bundesliga advantage has suddenly turned into a three-point deficit behind Bayern Munich.
“We had a very good start in the Bundesliga,” Pulisic said, according to ESPN. “But we knew that it wouldn’t go on like that forever. Although things aren’t going exactly well right now, we are keeping our heads up and will try to battle through it. We have an important game on the weekend against Bayern.”
“Because things are going so badly, it can only get better.”
The latest setback was a 1-1 draw with lowly APOEL in a match that was a must-win for Dortmund. Dortmund, by and large, created chances against the Cypriot side and maintained over 70 percent possession.
“Our start in the Champions League couldn’t have gone worse,” Pulisic said. “Now we, of course, have to fight to at least secure third place.
“It just didn’t go our way (Wednesday),” he added. “Maybe it’s fair to say that we had a bit of bad luck in recent games but it’s not a crisis at the moment. Everything is well and we will carry on and fight.”
I freaking love this kid. But he should thank his lucky stars Freddy Adu was the first hyped teenager from America that didn’t pan out the way everyone expected. I know, Donovan in the Bundesliga, but he’s still the best USMNT player of all time, Dempsey is also a contender, as is Friedel. But if Pulisic wants to earn best USMNT player ever, he’s got to work through adversity.
With his simple wisdom and talent, I think he’ll pull through.
I followed the action online. The updates made it seem like he was pretty dangerous all game.
Apart from a few sloppy first touches, Pulisic was almost unplayable in this game. Unlike other fans, I actually get frustrated watching Pulisic at times. I always thought that if he added one or two more tricks to his arsenal, he would be able to blow past defenders. Last night, he showed a lot more diversity in his dribbles (not always just cutting from one side to another), and I hope that creativity continues.