He’s not a finished product by any means, but Pulisic’s soccer IQ, burst with the ball and smooth technical ability make him the most exciting USA prospect since Landon Donovan.
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Seventeen-year-old playmaker Christian Pulisic became the youngest man ever to start a qualifier for the USA team, breaking the record of Altidore who was 18 when he started against Cuba in 2008.
Kljestan started a nice move in the 44th minute and ultimately found himself in ideal position to finish it following a goalmouth scramble for the New York Red Bulls player to toe poke home from 10 yards.
Tuesday’s match has high stakes for the USA team.
“It’s important to kind of give younger players time and have that patience”, Klinsmann said Monday. Head coach Stephen Hart has promised changes to the starting lineup (at least one is enforced: defender Sheldon Bateau is suspended for the USMNT match), but his team looked like it needed more than just a positional change or two to get back to its best.
Here are the modeled probabilities for both matches, followed by 1,000,000 Python simulations of both matches – 99% of the time, the U.S. advanced. We are all excited about a very special talent when it comes through there. “He has a long, long ways to go, and hopefully he goes a long way for many, many years to come”.
After five play-dates across ten months, the CONCACAF Fourth Round of 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification comes to a close tonight in Jacksonville and Guatemala City, the venues for United States of America vs Trinidad and Tobago and Guatemala vs St. Vincent and the Grenadines. The Americans would advance to the six-nation regional finals with a win, a tie or even a loss if it maintains its goal-difference advantage over third-place Guatemala, which was plus-12 at the start of the night. “Sometimes, when you tell your body let’s go, your mind can say whatever it wants, and we lacked that … impetus and urgency”.
Pulisic proved worthy of the big stage and repeatedly created offensive chances but it was Altidore who took the spotlight to continue his roller coaster year.
Altidore etched his name in the record book by becoming the United States’ leader with 16 qualifying goals, two more than Clint Dempsey.
According to U.S. Soccer, the hosts will be without defenders Matt Bessler and DeAndre Yedlin, opening the door for Omar Gonzalez to start. Bobby Wood continued his terrific USA form, and Jozy Altidore converted from the penalty spot.
Pulisic likely will be one of the first players off the bench, a role he welcomes for now.
“I’m ready for whatever comes”, he said. It’s been a insane year for me going from a lot of youth teams and programs straight to the professionals and top teams. “We’ll see how it pans out”.
Eligibility for a Croatian passport through his grandfather enabled him to move to Germany with his father, Mark, who now works as a youth coach at Dortmund. They are fully loaded now in their roster. Meanwhile, the U.S. (10 pts) is 3 ahead of Guatemala, meaning a win or a draw is enough for the USMNT. I feel like I can make an impact.
The Soca Warriors, captained by Atlanta United striker Kenwyne Jones, have already clinched a spot in the final round of World Cup qualifying thanks to a 2-2 draw at home against Guatemala on Friday night.
Although the US team had virtually wrapped up a spot in the six-team final round – a phase that also includes Costa Rica, Mexico, Panama and either Honduras or Canada – this one made it official.
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“The kid is going to play lots of matches, for sure”, United manager Jose Mourinho said.
