He's already playing for the USA. This isn't Rossi. Very unlikely a kid from Pennsylvania who has already represented the USA in a youth World Cup will decide to file a switch of associations.
I don't necessarily think 17 is too young; every case is different. But I'll feel more comfortable about promoting him to our first team once Dortmund feels he's ready to start playing against grown men. I don't understand all this talk about cap-tying him. Have I missed something and Croatia has been courting him again recently? Anyway, as regards his accent, of course he doesn't have one. He was born and raised in Pennsylvania and his only connection to Croatia is a grandfather
I really don't get the sense that he's a threat to leave the program. Croatia's tried before and it didn't work.
We never had Rossi. We lost Subotic because Rongen snubbed him for the U-20 WC, but Subotic was a total mercenary anyway, who only found himself choosing between the US and Serbia because FIFA rules blocked him from playing for Germany.
Agree with both points but the question was asked who we lost. Rossi clearly made a bad call if he wanted to play World Cup soccer.
In other words, his connections to Croatia are more tenuous and distant than mine are. I wouldn't worry excessively. But of course I'd make periodically certain that he was committed to the program and happy with his choice.
Guy, I was talking about under Klinsmann, with his dual national happy style. Anybody on the list there? Fabian Johnson doesn't count on account Germany wouldn't have him. As for the players you mentioned, Rossi played for Italy on every level, and said he identified himself as Italian in football. It was his dream to play for them. Subotic grew up elsewhere in large part. So not really applicable to Pulisic. Maybe Subotic to Siebatcheu. And who knows if he plays with commitment for the U.S. if he chose Serbia that easily in the end. So, maybe 1 that you'd really regret, in 10-15 years? Yeah, avoiding that is not remotely worth one hollow cap after another, at the expense of a MUCH larger part of the pool, which also consists of players ready at the time. Cap-tying dual nationals excessively early is a tantalizing game, one for which there is typically little reward, and a lot more punishment. Not many are going to jump ship as teens, and if they do, well you just learned a lot about them and what their projected commitment or lack there of would have been.
I thought you were speaking of players we lost. In terms of players we gained, Brook's goal effectively got us to the knock-out rounds and Green's was a bolt of lightning out of nowhere. Furthermore, Brooks, Zelalem, Johnson (who you conveniently leave out) and to a far lesser extent Green have potential to be stalwarts going forward. That being said, I see no need to cap tie a 17 year old purely because we're worried about him playing for another nation. If we're going to give caps to very young players, let's do it because we are effectively playing for 2022 and try to get them some experience playing in the national team style, whatever that may be. You would do this if you thought our prime age players weren't good enough (and you clearly see a much higher ceiling for our MLS creative types than I do, although I am very interested in seeing Lletget and Nagbe)
That's really the primary issue. If he was featuring for Litex Lovech after a loan I could get behind a call-up even if he just turned 17. But given that he's not I don't get the urgency especially factoring that it's so early in his career and it's not like he could start getting seriously tempted by another country. Donovan I guess was the special exception called up out of reserves who could help right away. But there I think at least being 18 and a half and a speedster helped him close the physical gap. I saw Pulisic get a stint against 2nd division St. Pauli recently and it appeared he still needed to develop physically and overall to play against men and for the national team.
Green, overall, we wouldn't have lost anything, yet. He's not near U.S. level, at this point, if he'll ever be. It's immaterial he scored a goal in the World Cup in a desperation comeback. That's about the only positive touch he's had in several games. Indeed, it came out of nowhere. He's been REALLY bad. He wasn't remotely ready. Zelalem, we wouldn't have lost anything, yet. Not an asset for our u-23 team at this point. And he hasn't been capped, so he's n/a. There's nothing convenient about leaving out Johnson. As I mentioned, he wasn't going anywhere. We could have waited to call him up until now and still secured his services. And he was a good pro for a while. Brooks is the only one you can kind of argue, but it's not because he scored a goal at a key point. So has MOF. So did Brad Evans. Overall his contributions have been debatable. I think we've been worse as a result of him being out on the field. He's had a ton of mental lapses. But in the end it probably will help we cap-tied him. So we'd add another out of the very long list of attempts. But he was a pro at least. That's more applicable to Siebatcheu's situation, not Pulisic's. I'm pro Siebatcheu call-up if he plays decently in the French Ligue up until next camp. I don't really buy developing players much internationally. That's what their clubs/academies are for. They have exponentially more time with them, and could get them at even younger ages.
I think a good place/time to fully integrate and cap-tie Pulisic would be the 2017 b-team Gold Cup. He'll be 18, nearing 19 then. He should have played 1st team football somewhere by then. If he's played it considerably before, you can start the process in friendlies and whatnot. That b-team Gold Cup is perfect for situations like his, maybe Siebatcheu's if he's not fully integrated already, maybe Novakovich, CCV, and working in the young MLS guys such as Acosta, EPB, Villarreal, etc. Surround them with your last chance, fringe guys like Rogers, Salinas, Marshall, etc. That's the type of team the b-team Gold Cup is for. Not an oldish A- team you're trying to bolster your winning percentage by using, and at the same time punishing the GOAT in your program because he dared to take several months off after burnout from previous over-commitment.
He's not ready. Just let him develop overseas for christ's sake. While he's more talented than most in our full NT pool, physically he needs another year or two. There's no reason to rush. I'm actually glad guys like Pulisic are heading overseas, out of the US spotlight. More should go overseas to get away from this rabid fan base with out of wack expectations and ridiculous hype of youngsters. Just let the kids mature.
Just watched a few of his YouTube highlight reels. Looks hungry, hyper-competative, and fearless. Great qualities. Hopefully he gets called in after JK goes off to coach _____ so that he retains those qualities.
Incorrect. That's Klinsmann by himself choosing to call in Corona over them. As far as the topic goes, Pulisic was progressing nicely because we have yet to say cap him now and sportscenter is not is interviewing him. Lets keep it that way.
You need to watch Akale then, in the same league as Pulisic. Those two are special talents and de La Torre isn't too far behind in my opinion.
The ability to effectively use both feet to pass, shoot and release pressure is fairly rare, even at the highest levels. Pulisic can certainly do all of the above. You don't have to be an athletic freak of nature to perform well if you have his gifts.
Also, I'm not that fearful he will bail on the USA to play for Croatia, but the one factor that could possibly change his mind is coaching. If the Croatian coaching situation is much better than the U.S. one, it's a factor. Playing in Euro Championships could be another. He's got options
The Croatian coaching situation IS much better. Much, much better, at all levels, and will likely still be better the day that Jürgen is gone. There's no doubt about that. There's a reason why Croatia churns out a large and steady number of high-level players out of a nation of 4.5 million with limited resources, on the under side of 10 million including diaspora (few of whom have ever represented Croatia, except for some of the Aussie contingent). I'm still not too worried. But always concerned. If you ask a Croatian-American if they "feel" more American or Croatian, most of us (pretty much all of us that I can think of, in the US or Croatia) will very quickly say "American" without batting an eyelash, though many of us feel very close to certain aspects of our Croatian-ness. And frankly, in Croatia we're looked at as Americans. Not just any Americans, but Americans.
The only fear I have of him leaving is if he gets frustrated by how clueless our coaching staff is. He clearly loved the Residency Program but Hugo is gone and look at the lineup of coaches he gets to deal with. He is EXTREMELY competitive and it could get real tiring to be curb stomped by inferior teams. He knows what good coaching looks like at BVD. Then he plays for Richie....
There is no way his entire future International career is going to change because he has one poor coach at such a young age group that is ending in literally a few days. To use the term curb stomped by inferior teams after a 2-2 tie with the team he has a passport with solely for the purpose of playing in Europe is extremely inaccurate bordering on silly.
Answer this one question. What would the final score have been if Pulisic had suited up for Croatia that game? Because that's a question he could be asking himself.
Your logic is getting worse. No way he would potentially switch national allegiances to win a U17 game.