For perspective regarding the Pulisic/Donovan comparison, Landon actually played for the U-23 Olympic team and senior Nats BEFORE his U-20 debut. How often does that happen? Landon was born in March '82 so he would have turned 18 before playing Olympics or the senior team (Mexico in October 2000 as I recall). Christian was born Sept '98, so he still has a ways to go before he turns 18. If Pulisic makes the Olympic team he'll be a solid 6 months younger than Donovan was when he played. Also, Donovan had 41 goals in 35 U-17 appearances. Pulisic has 20 goals in 34 appearances. I suspect that Pulisic probably has more assists than Donovan at the U-17 level, but I can't find that info. Seemed like Donovan was more a striker and Pulisic was more a midfielder for the U-17s.
I wouldn't bring him based on his one sub appearance and I don't think JK will either. I think he will bring him for his 1) quality and 2) Dortmund training background and 3)previous international appearances as well as 4)his particular skill set which we need. CCV is flat footed
One more thing about Pulisic. While Nguyen is more experienced - sees more, etc. - it is possible he comes up against some 1v1 dfending he cant handle at Copa where Pulisic has more athleticism and young gumption to take over for Ngyen mid game and give tired defendrs more trouble 1v1. This would be an additional reason to take him.
If Nguyen is going to be a rock on this MNT then he needs to be able to go 90 more often than not. I am not in love with Pulisic spelling Nguyen. If Dortmund is using him as a winger and we need good left winger then he should spell Zardes and perhaps replace him sooner rather than later. Later on if Joel Sonora works out then he can become the left winger so Pulisic can move inside. In 4 years I see a midfield Triumvirate of Pulisic, Hyndman and Zelalem with Morris and Rubin up top. Jozy and AJ are coming off the bench by then and we have the best CB trio in the world in a 3-5-2. Our attacking midfield and CBs are all starting on perennial champions league sides and we are a WC '22 semifinal hopeful.
In 4 years the likes of Manneh, De La Torre, Akale and Tillman very well could all be staking claim to a spot in the attacking portion of our midfield.
Let's not overstate Donovan's level. Dempsey and Bradley have played at an arguably similar height. Let's call it the Everton to Roma level. Good team but just short of the true big teams. Zelalem, Rubin, and, of course, Pulisic are firmly on track to achieve the Bradley/Donovan/Dempsey level and possibly beyond. Frankly, they are a little ahead of the curve and a little younger. Beyond those there are about dozen or so more players that *could* achieve and maybe surpass that level. Hyndman, Soñora, Thompson, de la Torre, Zendejas, Miazga, Wright, Novakovich, Acosta, Akale, Carter-Vickers have all shown some good qualities and are at a good place to take the next step. That's an astoundingly large number of names for a group whose DOBs range a little over three years. Adding the names of U-23 stars Trapp and Morris increases the odds even more. Right now, the infrastructure and opportunities are so much better for young Americans that I firmly expect this group to reach a bit higher level than the famed early 80's generation of Donovan, Beasley and Dempsey.
You're understating his level significantly. His club pedigree never matched his level as a player. He was an odd case.
By comparing him to Dempsey and Bradley? By saying that he is not at the Arsenal/Juventus/Atl Madrid level much less RM/Barcelona/Bayern? You must be chuffed.
No. If you look at the whole, that's not a bad summary (the first, not the second), although he was never with any of those clubs. His history with the European clubs he was with was just odd. As comparison, he was a significantly better player than Bradley or Dempsey, the "Spurs/Roma line." As evidence at the "Everton line" is underrating him, apart from all the of the international competitions and his impact in those, just look at the nature of his loans to Everton and how immediately he was able to make such a strong impact, which was totally unprecedented for an American player at that level. The first time they faced a murderers row of opponents, and he fared very well against them. He just didn't have that career.
I'm not looking at his history with European clubs. I'm establishing a level of player and naming European clubs is about the only way to do it.
Well despite the fact that it's weird to say that a guy who never played for Arsenal, Atletico or Juve was of the "Arsenal, Atletico, and Juve level," it's nevertheless a pretty fair approximation of Donovan. However, his career was an unusual one, not only amongst other Americans, but in world football in general.
They are not of the same standard of player. Among other ample evidence, if the were, we would not be having such issues in CONCACAF right now, despite Klinsmann's incompetence.
By all accounts, we don't need to worry about his international allegiance. Pulisic's only connection to Croatia is that he has one grandfather that was born there. His reason for getting a Croatian passport was so that he could start at Dortmund when he was 16. By the way...............Christian's cousin Will Pulisic is starting in goal today for the U19s at Copa Atlantico. Pulisic playing for Croatia would be like Emerson Hyndman choosing to Portugal. It wouldn't really make sense. You can't blame Croatia for trying to poach him, obviously. If the positions were reversed, we'd expect the US to try......................
Judging just by club CV is almost a fools errand and just convenient shorthand. Forlan sucked at ManU and killed it at Atletico. Torres killed it at Atletico and Liverpool and sucked at Chelsea. Scheva was amazing at Milan and a waste of space at Chelsea. Coutinho was surplus at Inter and a key, league best XI player at Liverpool. Riquelme washed out at Barca and was all world at Villarreal. Individual players have different styles that fit different systems, especially attacking players. I like to separate players by what they are capable of doing, relative to other players, rather than who pays them. I generally reserve the World Class label for the best handful of players at each position/role, sometimes there might not be a player at that level. Sometimes guys age out or fade (i.e. Ronaldinho) from that top echelon. Everything below that is pretty close. Below that are guys who are regular difference makers at the World Cup level (LD, Clint). We can argue about where they fall in that cohort but for our purposes that's the best we've had.
Actually, that's exactly what's happened. We did get that bad, the worst we've been in a couple of decades. Largely that's been a matter of really poor management, but it's also largely a matter of missing our best player, the guy who for close to 15 years was primarily (and statistically, overwhelmingly) responsible for getting the ball incisively through the final third. Without him, or anyone (singular or plural) to replace him or to replace that production, we've been lost in the woods. Our chance creation last year was atrocious.
IMO, most of Bradley's generation were all the same type of player - workhorse CMs and CBs - or just not that good. Later, the best of Altidore's generation imploded and the rest were not that good. So, no replacement for McBride, JOB, Reyna and Cherundolo. We're very lucky that we had access to a whole generation of Germaricans. In addition, CONCACAF has certainly gotten better. Remember, in 1990 we qualified with college kids and with much the same scores as we get now. Here's the final standings: Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Costa Rica 8 5 1 2 10 6 +4 11 United States 8 4 3 1 6 3 +3 11 Trinidad and Tobago 8 3 3 2 7 5 +2 9 Guatemala 6 1 1 4 4 7 −3 3 El Salvador 6 0 2 4 2 8 −6 2