So was he scouted by these European clubs during an AYSO game?
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GDA relegation or profit
- Thread starter SDsun
- Start date
Did Pulisic play in England? Yes, Brackley Town as a uLittle from 7-8. Then he played from 2008 (age 10-17) for PA CLassics (one of the first DA clubs ... the original 64), at age 17 he moved to the US National Team training program in Florida, where he was signed to Borussia Dortmund.
2005–2006 Brackley Town[2]
2008–2015 PA Classics[3]
2015–2016 Borussia Dortmund
As a youth player, he played up two age groups and was one of the youngest USSDA players. While I think he was only in the USDA for 5 years, he nonetheless played his key development years 12-16 with PA Classsics USSDA.
The DA and competition he received in the DA was key to his development, but certainly his move at age 17 from the USSDA to Germany furthered his development. But as it stands right now, this 18 year old kid has spent more time playing in the USSDA than for any other program. FYI, he only spent 1 year in the German Youth program, making his professional debut a year later.
Pulisic played in England for a year at age seven. He was in then in the US for the rest of his development. He was a YNT player. He was only in Germany for less than a year before he made the first team, so the notion that Germany was crucial to his development is totally overblown. Like Nagbe, a lot of credit should probably go to his father.
Pulisic is the poster child for why the USSDA was created. Create a league and training program (4 days a week) that allows the best talent to come together, throw that talent together and see who rises. If more developed pro clubs/programs want to snatch up these youngsters from the US ... more power too them. They are still ours. The reality is that if the MLS was in the Premiere League just about every team would have been relegated to Level 2 or Level 3 or lower. For USSDA players, the best thing for the USSDA is to have these players signed oversees at this time.
chargerfan
GOLD
There are a few in the Girls DA doing the same!
All really good kids play up. Pulisic was/is playing up in Germany too.
The problem in the US is that we don't have any place to develop these great boys once they hit 15 or 16 (playing up becomes less effective). In Europe, they are at pro clubs developing. With the exception of the MSL academy teams, we don't have that system. Some get to Europe, but that is difficult given the restrictions for youth players in Europe. Pulisic was lucky to have the Croatian connection.
Yep, and US Soccer knows this and the USSDA is intended to give those kids a place to play against kids their own age or just a year older. We have all seen kids playing up an age (heck my son is), but its a special player that can play up against top level competition. All we need is to find 26 of these kids and give them a forum and opportunity to develop and we have a winning USMNT, the rest can go play the MLS and the balance can go play college ... according to the blueprint.