Christian Pulisic earned decent reviews from his native journalist outlets following the USA’s 3-0 World Cup qualifying win over Honduras yesterday evening.
The Stars and Stripes fired three past their guests in -16C, the lowest temperature recorded for a match contested by the home side.
Despite the nearly frozen settings, the Americans were red hot in front of goal, scoring twice in the first half, before sealing the deal thanks to Chelsea’s number ten.
Christian comes up trumps
Pulisic started on the bench and may have begrudged his name being called out if it meant taking off any extra layers.
However, the risk was certainly worth the reward.
The 23-year-old scored just three minutes after being brought on by Gregg Berhalter.
He now has 18 international goals, just two fewer than his overall total for the Blues.
Something about the national team jersey seems to bring the best out of Pulisic, whilst wearing club colours has recently done quite the opposite.
Scores on the board
Whilst the English media have generally not been so kind to the young forward, those from across the pond looked more favourably upon one of their own last night.
MLS Soccer gave the former Borussia Dortmund frontman a 7/10 rating and a decent summary of his display.
“The Chelsea attacker started on the bench but took no time to get involved when he entered in the second half.
“Pulisic drew a foul with his first touch and scored a goal with his second, lashing home a shot that left the ‘keeper frozen.
CBS Sports went one better by awarding Pulisic an 8/10.
“Came on and scored three minutes later. Was a super sub once again and deserved his goal with a quick, fierce strike.”
This is certainly an improvement on the rating CBS previously dished out after the USMNT narrowly beat El Salvador 1-0 last month.
A 4/10 score came with the line: “Questionable passing decisions on the night, but did manage to put the ball in some dangerous spots. Finished with just one shot, which wasn’t on goal.”
Chelsea want some of the same
Pulisic must now transport this latest showing back to Stamford Bridge and regain a place in Thomas Tuchel’s team.
He has only started one of the past four matches across all competitions.
That was the 1-0 Premier League defeat to Manchester City, where Craig Burley labelled his performance as ‘awful.’
With the USA’s next fixture not until March, Pulisic needs to knuckle down and give Chelsea supporters something to sing and shout about.
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