Pulisic becomes heartbeat of U.S.
SAN JOSE (AP) – Christian Pulisic gallops elegantly past defenders like a gazelle, with the enthusiasm of youth and a sense of positioning that belies his inexperience.
At age 18, he’s getting significant playing time at European power Borussia Dortmund. And he’s American. “I just think he’s so much further ahead than I was or than any of us were at that age,” Landon Donovan said.
A week after becoming just the seventh American to score in the Champions League – and the youngest – Pulisic got one goal and set up three others Friday in the United States’ 6-0 rout of Honduras in a critical World Cup qualifier.
“He’s a great player. He can beat people one-on-one on the dribble. He creates mismatches because of that,” Clint Dempsey said after Pulisic assisted on two of his three goals. “It’s great to have players like that can win that one-vs.one battle and kind of break teams open.”
Before Pulisic became an American phenom, he was a wunderkind in Germany. He left Hershey, Penn., to sign with Borussia Dortmund in February 2015 and after an impressive winterbreak training camp made his Bundesliga debut on Jan. 30 last year. He had two goals in 12 appearances, becoming the youngest foreigner to score in the Bundesliga.
He has five goals and eight assists in 31 club appearances this season, and has scored this month in the Bundesliga, German Cup and Champions League.
“Playing in more big games there, it’s just gaining experience,” he said.
No. 10 jerseys in soccer have a mystique, assigned to the best players on teams like Pele, Diego Maradona and Lionel Messi, and worn on millions of replica kits around the globe. Donovan was 24 when he took over as the American No. 10 following captain Claudio Reyna’s retirement in 2006. Pulisic was 17 years, 349 days, when he inherited the jersey last Sept. 2 – then coach Jurgen Klinsmann attributed the decision to equipment manager Jesse Bignami. Pulisic scored twice that day at St. Vincent and the Grenadines – the youngest U.S. player with a goal in World Cup qualifying.
Pulisic made his national team debut last March 29 in a qualifier against Guatemala and he scored his first international goal in a May friendly against Bolivia. At an age when many past U.S. players were finishing high school or starting college, he already has four goals in 12 international appearances, and he has become close with national team regulars, mentioning Geoff Cameron and Alejandro Bedoya.
He is used to high-pressure matches, playing home games before the demanding crowd in Dortmund’s 81,360 capacity Signal Iduna Park.