Christian Pulisic confident of World Cup chances despite recent results
USMNT star Christian Pulisic is optimistic of his team’s chances in the FIFA World Cup despite a forgettable September.
The 24-year-old, who has yet to register himself on the scoresheet for club or country this season, saw the United States side thrashed by Japan before they played out an unpalatable stalemate against Saudi Arabia.
Gregg Berhalter has been questioned over his capacities ahead of the biggest footballing event, as his side have managed a paltry two shots on target in the last 180 minutes.
Pulisic, who has been in the news for multiple reasons of late, shook it off, and was unperturbed despite knowing that his side’s stocks have plummeted of late.
He gushed “I’m not panicked at all. We have a fresh slate going into the World Cup and we’re going to give it everything that we have, I know that we’re going to do well.”
The Chelsea winger went on to add “I think we have quality on the ball, but I think there’s times where we can use our strengths a bit more and be sort of a nasty and difficult team to play against. I think we saw glimpses of that tonight.”
There’s no doubt about it, the USMNT have an array of young talents not afraid of playing on the big stage. They were, in fact, without a handful of first-team stars. They do however have a job on their hands against the likes of Wales and England in Group B and will know they have to hit the right gear if they hope to advance.
Meanwhile, Pulisic himself is struggling for form this season. He’s not been a regular for Chelsea, but Graham Potter’s arrival at the club could untether his endless potential.
A strong string of games in the Premier League leading up to the World Cup could do wonders for Pulisic’s confidence as the US hopes to make a run in Qatar this November.
-Roy Akarshak
Twitter: @RoyAkarshak
Photo: Erik Drost. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.