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Match Preview: Dortmund vs FC Nurnberg

Hello Pulisic Fans,

And welcome to the Straight Outta Hershey Preview for today's blockbuster match between Borussia Dortmund and newly-promoted FC Nurnberg. A few fun facts about Nurnberg: It's the second largest city in Bavaria after Munich; its golden age came in the 1400s; it held special significance during the German Nazi Era. So obviously the first thing isn't great, since Bayern Munich is the scourge of the Bundesliga with players like Robben and Ribery; and the third thing isn't great either, for obvious reasons. 

But let's talk about soccer. Let's talk about football. Let's talk about cricket. Let's talk about Brazilian Ju-Jitsu. And, maybe, let's talk about Christian Pulisic? 
Here's how  BVB's twitter account thinks BVB could line up today against Nurnberg. I find this interesting. No Mo Dahoud? Lucien Favre LOVES Mo Dahoud. In fact that might be one of Favre's biggest shortcomings: he seems to play favorites. This is one of the main reasons Mario Gotze might not be playing for Dortmund much longer. He doesn't get to play. Go from being Germany's Golden Boy to never playing? Not so fun.

I like this lineup to a certain extent, but I'd like to see Alexander Isak get some playing time at the number nine position. Reus hasn't been all that impressive so far. BVB needs a fiery number nine, and Marco Reus is about as fiery as a bag of kittens. Not to say Isak is fiery either. Isak is about as fiery as a soft breeze coming off a Swedish lake in summer. So what's the solution? I don't know. Play Pulisic at number nine? Play Pulisic wherever he goddamn pleases? Jakob Bruun Larsen? Steal back Aubameyang?

(Quick little aside: I'm flying Swiss Airways to Vienna on October 3rd.  I thought Swiss Airways was supposed to be, like, ultra deluxe. Like one of the nicest in the world. I don't even get to pick my OWN SEAT. This is Norwegian status. This is terrible. If I have to fly almost 11 hours from SFO to Zurich sandwiched next to some overweight guy from Sacramento I'm going to cry).

As far as Pulisic starting goes, I'm not 100% convinced he will. He's coming off an injury, and gave 180% against Hoffenheim on Saturday, which means I could see Favre saving him for the second half. Do I think this will actually happen? Absolutely not. But it wouldn't entirely surprise me, either.

One man who's made no secret of his Pulisic obsession over the last year is Grant Wahl, from Sports Illustrated. Here you can watch a recent video of he and another pundit discussing whether or not this will be Pulisic's breakout year in the Bundesliga. I like when anyone talks about Pulisic, but I have a hard time looking at Wahl's bald head and pink shirt in this video. It's as if they rosy hues are reverberating off each other, the effect being that he sort of looks like a mature naked mole rat. And the other guy at one point says, "an harsher look" at Christian Pulisic, as if he were speaking medieval English or describing a jousting match. Why can't there just be a website that's 100% dedicated to Pulisic and where the host isn't using a screen reader?

Oh, wait...

But back to the preview. Kick off is in approximately three hours. Which means in about two hours I'll be shirtless, standing on the living room floor, beating my chest and screaming. This is how I warm up for Dortmund games. And then the players march onto the field. And I see Pulisic there. Und all ist gut. All ist perfekt.

The breakout season lives!

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