Christian Pulisic is taking the soccer world by storm right now. Last night he had 2 goals against Trinidad and Tobago and over the last 8 goals scored by the USMNT he has been involved with 7 of them. Currently, he is playing his club ball at Borussia Dortmund in Germany. His tale of how fast he has risen is nothing short of amazing. He started out in February of 2015 as a 16-year-old kid signing with Borussia Dortmund’s Youth Academy U17 squad and was quickly assigned to the U19 squad by the summer. He played 15 games for the Dortmund youth teams and in that span had scored 10 goals and had 8 assists he was very quickly called up to the first team January 26, 2016. On April 17 he would score his first goal in the Bundesliga becoming the youngest non-german ever to score a goal and 4th youngest ever in the history of the league. Less than a week later he would break another record the youngest player to score 2 goals in the top level.
Fast forward to the 2016 International Champions Cup he would score a goal in stoppage time against Manchester City to send the clubs to Penalty Kicks. They would eventually lose that game but still another big feat for a 17-year-old. Now also making his debut in the Champions League he became Dortmund’s youngest player ever to play in the Champions League. Coming on as a sub late in a match against Real Madrid trailing 2-1 Pulisic set up an Andre Schurrle goal to get them a draw with Real Madrid. In the Round of 16, he would finally get his first goal of the Champions League and helped move Dortmund onto the quarterfinals. He also became Dortmund’s youngest goalscorer in Champions League history.
International records were falling for Christian Pulisic as well. He had already made appearances on the U17 and U15 national teams and even captained the 2015 U17 World Cup team in Chile for the USA. During his two years with the team, he scored 20 goals in 34 matches. In March of 2016, he finally got the call up to the USMNT he then would make his debut against Guatemala when he came on as a sub for Graham Zusi. When he did he became the youngest American to play in a World Cup Qualifier. In May of 2016, he became the youngest player ever to score for the USA when he put one home in a 4-0 win over Bolivia. Against a weak Saint Vincent and Grenadines team, he would find the back of the net twice in a 6-0 shutout victory making him the youngest player ever to score in US history. As of this post, he has 15 matches and 7 goals and will look to get to number 8 on Sunday against Mexico.
I am really interested in what this kid can do in the 2018 World Cup which is this time next year. Hopefully, Coach Arena will use him as often as possible and he can be the savior for US Soccer. Christian Pulisic has a new fan in me. And he has made US soccer enjoyable to watch again.