The Christian Pulisic Blog

Today's game against Augsburg FC was a frustrating game for Pulisic fans. He started (whoopee!) on the left side, where he was heavily marked and received rare service from Jeremy Toljan, who seems hell-bent on not passing to our boy. He did have one great run where he cut up about four different Augsburg defenders, slicing through them like a meat-cleaver through a block of melting lard, then dished it to a teammate who promptly biffed it into an Augsburg defender. United-Fans get gassed when Martial does this once a month. Pulisic does this every single game. pic.twitter.com/dVzuOt2MUW — М.¹¹ (@SimpIyMarco) September 30, 2017 Then, once Yarmolenko came out (who had a decent game but spent a little too much time on the ground crying for my liking, and also tripped over the ball once, which is something I do all the time but I'm 34 and play for FC Aloneintherain), Pulisic moved over to the right where, as the announcers commented, he looked much more comfortable and dead...

We're all familiar with the saying, "Everyone's a general after the battle." This is what sprang to mind when I thought of all the people criticizing Dortmund after their 3-1 loss to Real Madrid yesterday in Champions League Matchday 2. The only problem is, people were saying all the criticisms about Dortmund before the match , i.e. that Dortmund's high back line left massive holes that Real Madrid would exploit. Which is exactly what Real Madrid did. Forget about the the supposed Sergio Ramos handball in the first half. Was it a handball? Maybe. But it doesn't matter. Real Madrid simply had way, way, way more opportunities than Dortmund. The score after the first half could've just as easily been 3-0 as it was 1-0. (Roman Bürki, can you cover your near post ? Is this some kind of Swiss goalkeeping technique? Though to be fair, you did have some brilliant saves.) But that's the thing: Brilliant saves should not keep the ball out of the net;...

’Twas the night before champions league, and all through the house Not a creature was stirring, not even a….whiny, diving, complaining, pretty-boy Cristiano Ronaldo.   Hello, everyone, and welcome to the Straight out of Hershey preview of Dortmund v. Real Madrid  for Day 2 of the Champions League group stage tomorrow. Today we will be talking about what we expect for tomorrow, what we hope for for tomorrow, and of course, about Christian Pulisic .   First, a little history: The last game Pulisic played against Real Madrid was in last year’s group stage, in which Dortmund drew 2-2 against Los Blancos in Madrid and Pulisic assisted the tying goal and generally looked like he belonged. He especially looked like he belonged when he beat Marcelo (who I don’t like, I’m not really sure why, but I assume if he plays for Real Madrid he’s an asshole) down the right flank.   But none of that matters anymore. We could talk about history all day but tomorrow is ...

Yesterday Borussia Dortmund hosted Borussia Mönchengladbach in Signal Iduna Park. Almost from the beginning die Schwarzgelben were obviously the stronger side, controlling possession but not making any real threats to score until 28' when Aubameyang made a perfect sliding cross to Philipp who made an even more perfect waist-high valley to take the ball across his body, past the keeper, and into the net. The thing that struck me about Philipp's volley was how casual  it looked. That was not an easy shot, but when you're young and play for one of the best teams in Europe you make those shots look easy. Philipp is dangerous. It will be interesting to see how much time he gets against Real Madrid on Tuesday, and how confident he looks against a powerhouse. Some other things from the match: Aubameyang looked incredible.  I hope he plays that well against Real Madrid, though I suspect he will; Aubameyang does not strike me as a streaky player; just all dangerous all the time...

Pretty quiet night in Seattle. Just watched Vice's tremendous documentary on Pulisic for probably the fourth time. As usual got a little teary-eyed right around 13:48. Tomorrow Borussia Dortmund play Borussia Mönchengladbach. Two websites I've looked at already say Pulisic will probably start. It must be nice to not have to travel across the country, to be able to just go to Düsseldorf, a short bus ride away. Do a lot of the players drive themselves? Does Pulisic have his driver's license yet? I can't imagine he does. Why would he? The happiest place for Pulisic is on the team bus. My predictions for tomorrow: I think Gladbach will score a goal and end die Schwarzgelben's record for clean sheets. I think the game might end in a 2-2 draw, or a Dortmund victory. I don't think Gladbach will win. I do think Pulisic will be vital, cutting people up, making dangerous passes and dangerous runs. In personal news I found out yesterday I could live in Logroño, S...

A note on my player ratings: I watch the game once, and I mostly concentrate on Pulisic and having an enjoyable experience watching the game (see: tearing my hair out like an over-protective mother). So these analyses are merely impressions. That said, impressions often hold the most truth. Also, if I don't talk about someone, it's because their performance wasn't worth talking about or because I got sick of typing). Kagawa: Scored a goal, obviously. Looked OK at midfield. OK to "not that good." I say get him out of there for Weigl or basically anyone else. Use him sparingly as a sub. Rating: 5 Yarmolenko: Awkward and dangerous. His stepovers are almost comically awkward, but his crosses are as pure as freshly-driven snow (like the one to Aubameyang).  Plus, as the analysts on FS1 were saying, he's seemed to gel quickly with the team. I saw him laughing on the bench with I don't remember who. Seems like a great guy. Rating: 7 Pulisic: Shining mo...

Many of us remember the devastation at not seeing Pulisic on the field at the start of the Köln game. Will the same thing happen today? Sports Illustrated doesn't seem to think so . Neither does Fear the Wall . In fact, Sports Illustrated doesn't even mention CP's name. Why is this? What is happening? Is it because of Philipp's performance? Is it because CP hasn't had a goal or an assist in awhile and his final touches have been a bit off? Or is it because Peter Bosz hates me? Either way, we'll know in about 30 minutes. I have a good feeling about CP in this game, whereas in previous games I didn't have the greatest feeling. I feel like coming off the bench could even be good for him, since he'd be extra fired up and would have fresh legs. Also, not that CP needs any help with this, but the importance of maintaining your feet on the ground and not letting things like his recent Golden Boy nomination go to your head cannot be overstated, and there...

Short answer: Obviously. Long answer: There are essentially several reasons why a real Christian Pulisic fan needs to learn German. The most obvious is that Pulisic plays for a German team. If you're a real Pulisic fan, you plan on going to Germany in the next year or so to watch him before he's possibly transferred somewhere else. Anytime you go to a foreign country, your experience is enriched immeasurably even by learning the slightest bit of the local language. Ideally, a real Pulisic fan is paying primo cash this exact minute for a private tutor name Greta, stealing glances on his smartphone to read this very blog post while she drones on about the accusative case or the dative (though he doesn't want to be too disrespectful, as he's also trying to date her). The real Pulisic fan is also doing apps like Duolingo and Busuu to supplement his vocabulary. Bottom line: When you get to Dortmund and Signal Iduna Park, you're going to want to mingle with the locals ...

OMG OMG OMG. Kidding. But seriously, today is a special day. On this day in history, September 18th, the following things happened: The Roman emperor Nerva was assasinated There was a peasant uprising in Transilvania (1437) Chris Columbus landed in Costa Rica on his fourth and final voyage (1502) Chilean independence from Spain (1810) Baseball rules 1st baseman can tag base for out instead of runner (1848) And in 1978, all four Kiss members released solo albums. (all previous info courtesy http://www.onthisday.com/events/september/18) But the most important thing happened in 1998, when in Hershey, Pennsylvania, a woman named Kelley Pulisic gave birth to a baby boy named Christian. Kelley didn't know it at the time (or maybe she did), but her baby boy would go on to capture the hearts and minds of soccer fans all over the world. He'd go on to play in the Bundesliga, to play in World Cup qualifiers, to play in the Champions League, and who knows where else....

I was bummed when I turned on the TV this morning to watch Dortmund vs. K ö ln and saw that Pulisic wasn't on the field. At first I thought maybe I'd missed him, but his tiny steps when trotting are hard to miss. It was good to see him warming up with Julian Weigl before the game, engaged in conversation and laughing. I wondered what language they were speaking. For some reason I think English, since in an Instagram or Twitter post Christian said something @ Weigl in English. And I'm sure it's English with Isak, who was also in the warmup mix, since Isak is fresh from Sweden and probably doesn't speak German. Philipp's goal from Yarmolenko just a few minutes into the game was a cracker. Yarmelenko isn't the most graceful of players, but he seems to get the job done. And Philipp's header was nothing short of brilliant. I couldn't help but think, though: Shit, does Philipp playing well mean more bench time for Pulisic? And then of course Philip sc...