Christian Pulisic started on the right wing and put in a strong performance in Borussia Dortmund’s impressive 4-0 rout of Atlético Madrid in the Champions League on Wednesday. On Saturday, he started on the bench and watched as two more Jadon Sancho goals were scored by the right winger, putting added pressure on the young American, who could see his playing time increasingly limited.
A fascinating tactical battle between Lucien Favre’s Bundesliga-leading Dortmund and Diego Simeone’s Atletico (currently averaging 0.55 goals conceded per game in LaLiga) was bossed by the home side at the Westfalenstadion on Wednesday, BVB putting four past Europe’s misers while limiting the visitors to only two shots on frame.
Achraf Hakimi registered a hat-trick of assists while the moves were finished by Axel Witsel, Jadon Sancho and Raphael Guerreiro (x2). Marco Reus wasn’t on the scoresheet, but his deployment in the false nine role murdered Atletico’s shape.
For those who weren’t watching the U.S. tie Peru or Chile beat Mexico (or maybe even the baseball playoffs? lol jk), the NBA season began with a couple games on Tuesday night. It got us thinking about footballers playing basketball, because everything we relate everything in the world back to soccer.
For the first time ever, the gala for the Ballon d’Or will also include a presentation for the inaugural awarding of the Kopa Trophy — a prize given to the world's best under 21 player, so really just another Golden Boy because we really need more individual prizes in this sport, don’t we?
Regardless, the 10 finalists for the prize include:
Borussia Dortmund climbed to second in the Bundesliga table — just two points behind leader Bayern Munich following its surprising draw with Augsburg on Tuesday — after thumping Nurnberg 7-0 at the Westfalenstadion on Wednesday.
Since returning from a muscular injury, Christian Pulisic has been at his best for BVB, scoring in back-to-back matches before assisting on Dortmund’s first goal on Wednesday.
The American winger went on an impressive run before carving open Nurnberg’s backline with a sensational pass for Jacob Bruun Larsen’s opener.
After scoring a fluky goal against Club Bruges in the Champions League Tuesday (although a hugely important one that secured all three points for Borussia Dortmund), Christian Pulisic made it two goals in two games after salvaging a point for BVB against Hoffenheim Saturday.
Perhaps most importantly from an individual perspective, the 20-year-old went the full 90 minutes for the first time this season after being sidelined at the start of the campaign with a muscular injury.
In arguably the greatest American Champions League matchday since DaMarcus Beasley roofed one for PSV against Monaco in the 2005 Round of 16, our pubescent USMNT squad registered a game-winning goal and a point-obtaining assist on Tuesday. The goal was somewhat unknowingly golazo'd by Christian Pulisic (celebrating his 20th birthday), and the assist was recorded by Weston McKennie (who actually celebrated his 20th birthday a few weeks ago).
It’s September 18th and every lover of the game can consider Tuesday a great one because it is the day the UEFA Champions League returns. However, this Tuesday is also special because it marks the day of birth of the man who is quickly staking his claim as one of the best to play for the United States men’s national team.
Christian Pulisic, the oft-labeled “future” of the U.S. soccer, leaps into his second decade of living and thus, can no longer be called “one of the best teenagers in the world,” the “teenage talisman” or the “teenage sensation.”
Borussia Dortmund, without the injured Christian Pulisic, traveled to face Hannover 96 in the Bundesliga’s Friday night fixture. It was, if we’re being honest, a bit boring, with just three shots on target the entire match. Not even the second-half introduction of American Bobby Wood could spice things up, with the teams finishing in a 0-0 draw and few Dortmund vs Hannover highlights to speak of.
There’s something about soccer players born in September.
While talent should in theory be equally divided throughout the world by players born in each month, soccer players born in September make up a hefty portion of some of the best players in the world right now and throughout history. In fact, nine of the following best soccer players born in September were born in 1989, apparently a great month in the history of the sport, which gave us the likes of Thomas Mueller, Daniel Sturridge, Alexandre Pato and Gylfi Sigurdsson.