FourFourTwo UK – September 2019

AMERICA’S MOST WAnTED?

It startedwellenough.Clint
Dempseywasthecostliest
AmericantoleaveMLSfor
thePremierLeaguewhen
hejoinedFulhamfor£2.5m
in2007.It provedtobe
a bargain,especiallywhen
‘Deuce’drovetheCottagers
totheEuropaLeaguefinal
viahisdelightfulchipped
winnerintheirstunning
four-goalcomebackagainst
Juventus.In2012,Liverpool
andSpursjostledforhis
signatureondeadlineday,
andtheRedswereforcedto

apologisetoFulhamafter

claiminghehadmovedto

Merseyside,onlytodiscover

he’dsignedforSpurs.The

£6mmove,thena record

foranAmerican,resultedin

Dempseynetting 12 times

inhisonlySpursseason.

In2008,JozyAltidore

wasAmerica’spriciest

export,witha £6mmove

fromNewYorkRedBullsto

Villarreal– butheheldthe

titlewithnodistinction.In

threeyearsheplayednine

first-teamgames,spending

therestofhistimeonloan.

Jozywaslatercalled‘Dozy’

duringa dismalspellas

a non-scoringstrikerat

Sunderland,his 42 league

gamesbringingonegoal.

AndpriortoPulisic’smove,

JohnBrookshadtherecord

pricetag,asWolfsburgpaid

HerthaBerlin€20mforthe

defenderin2017.Hespent

mostofhisfirstseasonout

witha tornthightendon,

becamea regularinhis

second,thensuffered

ligamentdamage.Brutal.

through.Fromhisperspective,hehadsuch
a talentedteamandhewaslookingatthe
areaswherehefeltI couldhelptheteam.
That’swhata coachshoulddo.Evenif it
wasn’twhatI wanted,I’mthankfulthatheput
meinsucha strongteam.Heputmeonwhen
were3-1downto[rock-bottom]Ingolstadt.”
Pulisicsetoneupandscoredtheequaliser.
“Mydadwasthere– it wasunforgettable,”
hesays.Hewas 17 yearsold.
NuriSahin,formerlyofLiverpooland
RealMadrid,tookPulisicunderhiswing.
“He’sfearless,”saidSahin.“Hehassomuch
speed,butwhatI likemostis hisfirsttouch.
Whenhegetstheball,hisfirsttouchopensup
a hugespaceforhimevenif there’snospace.”

Pulisicsharedveryfewofthefirst-team
players’trappings.Hewastooyoungtodrive,
sohisfather,Mark,gavehima lifttotraining

AboveThewaitis

overforBluesfansto

seePulisicinaction

46 September 2019 FourFourTwo

CHRISTIAn

PULISIC

eachmorningina modestVWGolf.Then

MarkwentbacktoAmericatocoach,

whileChristianlivedwithhiscousin,Will,

a goalkeeperalsoplayingintheyounger

teamsatDortmund.

“I’dwatchNetflixseries,”washowhe

enjoyedhisnew-foundsparetime.“I’minto

gamingwithmyfriendsfrombackhome,

too.That’showwekeepintouch.”

Hisclosefriend,NicholasTaitague,is

American,thesameageandplayingin

GermanyforDortmund’srivals,Schalke.

TaitagueandPulisicplayedFortniteon

theirPlayStationsmostdays.

“I watchothersports,especiallyNBA,”says

Pulisic.“IliketheSixers[Philadelphia76ers]

butI’ma bigLeBronJamesfan,too.I follow

playersmorethanteams.”Infact,Pulisic

puta quotefromLeBron,whomheoften

staysuplatetowatch,onthedoorofhis

Dortmund apartment, which read simply:

‘Outwork your team-mates every day’.

Except, apparently, in the kitchen.

“I wouldn’t exactly say I was a natural at

home-keeping,” he laughs. “I had the three

meals I knew how to make on rotation.”

By 18, Pulisic was living the life of

a professional footballer – usually for

the better, but sometimes for the worse.

On April 11, 2017, he was sitting next to

goalkeeper Roman Burki on the team bus

for the home leg of Borussia Dortmund’s

Champions League quarter-final against

Monaco as the bus closed in on the stadium.

“We had a normal schedule and I had my

headphones on as we drove to the game,

as I do for every game,” he remembers,

solemnly. “What happened next seemed to

happen in slow motion. First, windows on the

bus shattered, then everything started to

shake. I had no idea what was happening –

I was just very confused. Roman grabbed me

and pushed me to the floor under the table

on the bus. The noise stopped, but then we

heard Marc yelling.”

Catalan defender Marc Bartra was taken to

hospital with a broken wrist, while a police

motorcyclist escorting the bus suffered blast

injuries and shock from a bomb, detonated by

a 28-year-old German-Russian who’d learned

how to make it on Google. He wanted to profit

from Dortmund’s share value dropping. The

damage would have been much worse if the

bus windows hadn’t been reinforced.

There were three explosions.

“We didn’t know what was happening,

or what was going to happen,” says Pulisic.

“We had been preparing for a game and

I wondered if we would still play. Eventually,

we were told that we’d play the next day.”

Dortmund wanted the match rescheduled

for a later date, but – to much criticism – UEFA

refused their request. Monaco won 3-2 in

Dortmund and progressed to the semi-finals.

“It was a tough time,” recalls Pulisic, just 18

when the attack took place. “I was nervous in

the months after. We didn’t stay at the same

hotel for a few months, but we still needed to

get the bus to games and we still had to pass

the place where it happened. It was especially

tough when we got on the team bus and sat

in the same seats. It will always be part of me.

It brought me close to my team-mates.”

Tuchel left the club six weeks after the

attack to take a year out of management. He

was replaced by Dutchman Peter Bosz, who

had just taken Ajax to the 2017 Europa League

Final, where they lost to Manchester United.

“He had a lot of trust in me and allowed me

to play a very free and attacking style,” says

Pulisic. “I really respected him as a coach and

it was tough when he was fired [four months

into the season, with Dortmund 8th in the

Bundesliga and winless in all six Champions

League games]. Things had gone really well

in the league, then we missed out on a few

results. I’m only young but I’ve had several

coaches, and you have to start over again –

changing tactics, playing to a new system.”

Being known as the USA’s most expensive footballer has become a dubious honour