"I've put on the U.S. jersey a few times with the youth national teams," Christian Pulisic said, "but if I do get the chance to put it on and go run out there for the men's national team, obviously there's probably no greater feeling in the world."
Those were the words of a young attacking midfielder, spoken less than 24 hours before his national team debut on March 29, 2016, against Guatemala. At the time, there was real excitement surrounding the American. U.S. players had competed in Europe before. Some had even won trophies. But none had broken into Borussia Dortmund’s first team and made an impression under a manager as respected as Jürgen Klopp. Pulisic was different. He was the next big thing - and everyone kind of knew it.
And at the age of just 17 years and 193 days, he became the youngest national team player to represent the U.S. in a World Cup qualifier when he entered the pitch in what turned out to be a comfortable 4-0 win.
And what was a pretty routine 10-minute cameo in a game that had long been decided when he entered the fray now stands as a seminal moment in U.S. soccer history - the day when one of the best to ever wear the U.S. kit stepped on a pitch for the first time. And ahead of the U.S.'s Gold Cup semifinal matchup with Guatemala, GOAL looks back at that day, almost 10 years on...
