Pulisic confident at Chelsea, hopes for Olympic appearance with U.S.

Christian Pulisic is confident of regaining a regular role with Chelsea and would like to play for the U.S. at the Olympics while realizing he may not be released for them.

Pulisic is with the U.S. national team for the first time since October 2019 ahead of exhibitions against Jamaica on Thursday at Wiener Neustadt, Austria, and on Sunday at Northern Ireland. The 22-year-old midfielder and forward from Hershey, Pennsylvania, has had a difficult second season with Chelsea, missing the start of the season because of an injury, then struggling to gain playing time since Thomas Tuechel replaced manager Frank Lampard.

“It hasn’t been the easiest thing,” Pulisic said Wednesday at U.S. training camp in Austria. “Obviously, I’m a guy who always wants to play.”

The U.S. under-24 team will play a one-game match on Sunday in Guadalajara, Mexico, most likely against Canada or Honduras, in an attempt to reach the Olympics for the first time since 2012. Clubs do not have to release players for the Olympics, which overlap the start of the 2021-22 European season.

“To represent your country in an Olympics would be amazing,” Pulisic said. “It’s something I’ve thought about and I have wanted to play in. Obviously I can’t control exactly what goes on and what is best for me at the time and what’s best for the team at the time.”

U.S. national team coach Gregg Berhalter made an Olympic appearance sound unlikely for Pulisic and other Americans with European clubs. His priority is the eight World Cup qualifiers next fall. Olympic soccer is limited to players under 24 with the exception of three wild cards over the age limit.

“We have to sit and have conversations with these clubs,” Berhalter said. “It’s an uphill battle that we’re fighting. If we were in a perfect world, there is nothing more I’d like to see than the best group compete in the Olympics.”

Pulisic is the top American player in the post-Landon Donovan and Clint Dempsey era, scoring 14 goals in 34 international appearances. Leader of the player pool as it emerged from the failure to qualify for the 2018 World Cup, he is part of a young generation that includes Weston McKennie and Tyler Adams, who are absent from this week’s training camp.

“I’m very excited to be back with the team,” Pulisic said. “First of all, I always love just being able to play for my country and get it back with these guys.”

The coronavirus pandemic limited the U.S. to just two games on FIFA dates last year, and Pulisic missing those while recovering from injury.