There won’t be much, if any, summer holiday for Chelsea and United States winger Christian Pulisic. The man who generated the biggest transfer fee for an American player ever is going to hit the ground running this preseason for the Blues.
Once his international duty with the USMNT is complete this summer, culminating with the Gold Cup Final tonight versus Mexico at Soldier Field in Chicago, the 20-year-old will meet up with the rest of his new teammates in Europe. According to what Pulisic said himself in the mixed zone yesterday, he’ll have “a few days, maybe” off in between.
Prompted with a follow-up question about his summer vacation (or lack thereof) he added: “not very much at all, but I’m excited to get start up.”
Chelsea have two friendlies this week in Dublin- Wednesday against Bohemians and then Saturday afternoon versus St. Patrick’s, it’s a long shot that Pulisic’s first appearance in the blue shirt could be in the latter friendly, but most likely not.
In addition to this week, Chelsea have five more preseason fixtures including a clash with Barcelona in Japan on July 23. So we’ll see soon enough the early beginnings of whether or not the former Borussia Dortmund man is up to the challenge of truly replacing Eden Hazard will be here soon enough.
Pulisic has truly developed into a leader this summer with the national team, and Berhalter extolled the virtues of his forward’s progression this tournament yesterday.
If it seems like Pulisic could be pushing himself too much this summer, and not getting his proper rest, then we one must refer back to this article from the Chelsea SB Nation site “We Ain’t Got No History” (June 20)
Pulisic already had a break before the Gold Cup, taking time off after the Bundesliga season ended in mid-May, stopping by Cobham for a minute, but then not joining up with the USA national team until earlier this week (skipping all the warm-up friendlies and most of the training). That’s a solid four weeks at least of football vacation, which should be enough to energize him not only for the tournament but for the season ahead.
So in a sense, the Hershey, Pennsylvania native has already had a break for some rest and relaxation. And before he begins his next chapter at Chelsea, where new and exciting opportunities await him, there is the matter of tonight.
America will take on their most hated rival, in a trophy game, in full of a packed house.
“It’s the biggest game there is,” U.S. star Christian Pulisic said Saturday.
“We want to win. It’s the final. It’s against Mexico. It adds that much more.”
It’s also poised to become one of the most massive days in U.S. Soccer history, with both the men’s and women’s teams able to claim silverware on the same day.
Many have criticized the scheduling of this day, upset that the Women’s World Cup Final, which will see the USA play the Netherlands, is on the same day as the Gold Cup and Copa America finals.
Pulisic said “he’s not really worried” about that scheduling stuff. “Obviously, we want the women to win,” the face of American soccer added. “We want to win, as well. When both of those things happen, it’s not going to bother me too much. I’ll be just as happy.”
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, the author of “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,” regularly appears on WGN CLTV and co-hosts the “Let’s Get Weird, Sports” podcast on SB Nation.
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