I wish Christian Pulisic's middle name was actually "Mate," mostly because I'm sitting on a balcony in the beautiful city of Vancouver right now drinking mate. But it's actually Mâte, although I think the diacritic would be upside down, but either way the point I'm failing to make is that the pronunciation would be different. Christian has a Croatian passport. This is what allowed him to play for Dortmund at such a young age. There were actually a LOT of factors that allowed Christian to play at Dortmund at such a young age. For example, Sven Mislintat. From what I can gather, a Dortmund scout (I'm assuming Mislintat) was in Turkey for the U-17 Aegean cup back in 2014 (?). But they were actually there to watch Haji Wright. The thing that's so interesting is that Haji actually played well. It's not like he played terrible and Christian stole the show. But Dortmund saw something in Christian. They pursued him. And because his grandfather was Croatian he was able to get an EU passport and start at Dortmund way younger than he would've been able to otherwise.
Fast forward to today and Christian is, and please don't discute this, the best player in American soccer history. At least talent wise. Talent wise it's not really close.
What I want to know is how that all happened? How does he go from being just another dude on the U-17 team to playing for Chelsea in just a few years? And the answer probably is that there are a host of factors. Dortmund was massive, obviously. They take young rough diamonds and polish them into beauties. Just look at Ousmane Dembele. Just look at Jadon Sancho. Just look at a number of guys.
In fact, not to go on a tangent, but I think Jadon Sancho will be one of the best in the world in a few years if he stays healthy. Don't quote me on that. But also, if I'm right, do quote me on that.
Other factors: Pulisic has stayed (relatively) injury free. His mental game is incredible (he doesn't really look at social media or read about himself in the news). He had Jurgen Klinsmann at the USMMT ready to give him a chance when he was just 17. "The youngest player in the modern era...."
Anyway, that's kind of what I'm thinking about today as I now sit on the toilet. This weekend Chelsea play Manchester United in their first game of this season's Premier League. Pulisic might not start, but he'll almost definitely play. And to think, just a few years ago, none of this was even on the horizon, or if it was on the horizon it was so distant that the guy in the crow's nest thought it was a cloud when it was actually a blue whale. But sometimes things come together like that. They snowball and they snowball and what started as something else is barely recognizable afterward. This is not exactly one of those cases. Christian Pulisic is still the same player he was when he was 14. Just a little better and a little tougher and a little more refined. And on a much bigger stage.
Fast forward to today and Christian is, and please don't discute this, the best player in American soccer history. At least talent wise. Talent wise it's not really close.
What I want to know is how that all happened? How does he go from being just another dude on the U-17 team to playing for Chelsea in just a few years? And the answer probably is that there are a host of factors. Dortmund was massive, obviously. They take young rough diamonds and polish them into beauties. Just look at Ousmane Dembele. Just look at Jadon Sancho. Just look at a number of guys.
In fact, not to go on a tangent, but I think Jadon Sancho will be one of the best in the world in a few years if he stays healthy. Don't quote me on that. But also, if I'm right, do quote me on that.
Other factors: Pulisic has stayed (relatively) injury free. His mental game is incredible (he doesn't really look at social media or read about himself in the news). He had Jurgen Klinsmann at the USMMT ready to give him a chance when he was just 17. "The youngest player in the modern era...."
Anyway, that's kind of what I'm thinking about today as I now sit on the toilet. This weekend Chelsea play Manchester United in their first game of this season's Premier League. Pulisic might not start, but he'll almost definitely play. And to think, just a few years ago, none of this was even on the horizon, or if it was on the horizon it was so distant that the guy in the crow's nest thought it was a cloud when it was actually a blue whale. But sometimes things come together like that. They snowball and they snowball and what started as something else is barely recognizable afterward. This is not exactly one of those cases. Christian Pulisic is still the same player he was when he was 14. Just a little better and a little tougher and a little more refined. And on a much bigger stage.
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