For PSV? Bosz is in a difficult position. He's got the club legend and captain who had a season for the ages in 23/24. And by the way, it's not like de Jong is having a bad season. He's had a goal and/or an assist in 9 of the 11 Eredivisie games he's played in this season. He's still very impactful. Its just the typical thing. Do you play the aging captain who still is actually performing well? Or the rising star who is in good form? People on this forum act like this should be an easy decision for Bosz. I'm sure its not. De Jong hasn't actually done anything to get benched. Neither deserves to be on the bench based on form. But anyway, a good problem for a coach to have. And with as many games as PSV has to play, there are going to be plenty of chances for Pepi either way.
Clearly Bosz needs to familiarize himself with the Supporters Shield winning 2012 Earthquakes who often played two bigs Alan Gordon and Steven Lenhart up top with Wondo
Good for him even if some of this opinions are trash, and more importantly good for the US that he's playing for us...
Dos Santos, Ochoa over Howard, and HH over Jones all struck me as ridiculous to varying degrees (I think of the 3, only the Ochoa/Howard thing was remotely close). It's weird though, sometimes people do this as straight fandom, some people treat it as a serious attempt at an evaluation, like Bill Simmons crazy Basketball Player Pyramid he was obsessed with. I think Pepi's just a fan, period, and like all my students over the years, grew up 100% El Tri. So its that. If its serious, well, like most athletes, he's ---- at evaluating talent.
I read someone say it was sort of taken out of context as the question wasn't who was better or that he liked more but had a bigger influence in their home country. So if LeBron was up against one of those the answer might have been different.
Pulisic will likely take home the honor as Male Player of the Year. That'll be the fifth time for him, breaking a tie with Donovan. As far as Pepi idolizing those Mexican players.......................that's what he's always said. From his earliest FCD academy profiles, he's always listed Chicharito as his favorite player. I think this article does the best job detailing Pepi's background. The unstoppable dreams of USMNT prodigy Ricardo Pepi - ESPN Christian Pulisic has said his idol growing up was Luis Figo. So much so that his nickname as a kid was "Figo." So what?
I was surprised at the Figo piece as I assumed he was too young for Figo, but I guess Figo didn't actually retire until the late aughts when Pulisic was 10 or 11. Really peculiar kind of fandom that.
I doubt Pulisic became a fan of Figo because of that period, when Figo was more of a bench/rotational player for Inter. I'm guessing he discovered clips of Figo from an earlier era, and I wouldn't be surprised if his parents played some role in that discovery. As a small child, I purchased and endlessly rewatched videos with highlights of players I was too young to see in their prime, so I can relate. But when Pulisic was around that same age, youtube was just taking off, so it would have been even easier for him to discover older player.
I might be a little more concerned if he took Hirving Lozano over Pulisic, Charly Rodriguez over McKennie, Jorge Sanchez over Dest, and Santi Gimenez over himself.
I hope this is the explanation, cuz the other excuses are weak. It would show disrespect to fellow Americans. Like Ochoa over Howard is ridiculous. He could have just answered reasonably who the best players are on that list now, even if he was an El Tri fan as a child. He's a man now. GDS over Dempsey and Cheech over Donovan are both silly, especially as an American (player). Dempsey had a much productive career in Europe & for country. While Donovan scored more goals, let alone assists, than Cheech. Lando was the all-time leading int'l assist man until he was just passed by Messi. All the top 10 are legends. He was the best modern int'l attacker either of these nations had. Club-wise, he took the route he took. Was better than Cheech & GDS in MLS. He was impactful in limited forays into the EPL.
He answered honestly. He grew up in a Club America and FMF household. He idolized Liga MX players. That ESPN article above details his background pretty well. He's said his career goal is to end up playing for Real Madrid like Chicharito did. That's his idol. He might pick Chicharito over Lewandowski for all we know. I remember in 2021 when he was named to the MLS All-Star team, he was so excited to play in that game against the Liga MX all-stars (Memo Ochoa, Santiago Gimenez, and those guys). He said he was excited to meet and play with Chicharito and Carlos Vela. [They both withdrew with injuries.] Those are his idols. Not Donovan and Dempsey. He can lie if people want.
Ochoa is one of the most legendary players Mexico has ever had while Howard might not even be a top three keeper for us. The only one that I don't really understand is the Dempsey over Gio decision, but who really cares? All of the others are pretty easy to make a case for the Mexican player. Keep in mind, Mexico dominated the US for the most part during the Pepi's formative years, so it makes sense that he sees el tri's players as better during that era. I'm pretty sure he'd have a different take if comparing current players...
Pepi, it should be noted, was ROOTING for Mexico to beat the US in his formative years. He talked about how torn he was by the decision. Ricardo Pepi on US-Mexico international choice: "I'm just stuck in the middle" | MLSSoccer.com “Yes, I am still thinking about who I'm going to represent,” he said. “It’s so hard – it's actually very hard. I don't know, I've spent about three, four months thinking about this decision. And I feel like I'm in the same place every day. I can't lean one way or I can't lean the other way. I'm just stuck in the middle.”
Who cares who he idolized in his youth? Folks getting all in their feelings because he didn't pick a career MLS player over a guy that played for Barca. Dafuq? Prime LD actually did mean more to the US than almost any player at any other country, but that speaks more for how woefully pathetic league football was in the US. He did a great deal for real football in this country. You think when he travelled to Juarez his family members were talking up the US? I would hazard a guess there are loads of folks in El Paso that identify more with Mexican culture than ours. He grew up on the border FFS. I am not surprised a guy of Mexican descent grew up idolizing el-tri players. I am damned glad he chose to represent us and I find no need to disparage him simply because he doesn't hold LD in godlike status.
Donovan is GREAT for National Team plays, no argument. But his club careers didn’t catch the smallest toe of Pulisic.
Anyone know what other offers he had after the U17 WC? He obviously went to the wrong spot (Leverkeusen) hated it, home sick, it probably wasn't going to work no matter what he did, but its interesting to wonder if he'd gone to Spain, or Italy or England what might have happened. He had a mega elite MLS career, but particularly at that time, MLS was not exactly great, and it was and is Europe, that you find what you truly are in the club game. Was always bummed that every foray to Germany was just a fail.
I know several guys from El Paso that are huge US fans but they are white. It's a cultural thing. probably by 3rd and sometimes 2nd generation that changes. I've noticed players from the east coast seem to have an easier time in Germany than those from California. A warmer, sunny climate would probably be easier. The culture and language difference is tough and adding in a drastic weather change makes it tougher.