We are less than a month away from 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia but soccer fans from the United States will have to pick some other nation to cheer for. United States men’s national soccer team (USMNT) is missing the World Cup tournament for the first time since 1990 and according to one of its most talented stars, Borussia Dortmund’s forward Christian Pulisic, USMNT just didn’t have the focus required to make that last step.
“There could be a lot of small pieces. It’s hard to say exactly,” – said Pulisic in an interview with ESPN FC. “I think we put ourselves in a good spot and we made a mistake in the final game. That’s how it went. We weren’t focused. We weren’t ready to come out and finish the job. That’s really all there was.”
USMNT entered the final game of the World Cup qualifiers against Trinidad and Tobago, requiring a draw to make the final cut. Although Trinidad and Tobago didn’t have anything to play for except their pride, compared to the U.S. who had everything to play for, they ended up winning the game 2-1. Following the defeat, former USMNT coach Bruce Arena said that one of the reasons for the team’s poor showing is the fact that the players didn’t have great chemistry and highlighted the attitude of Stoke City’s defender Geoff Cameron. Unlike Arena, Pulisic thinks that wasn’t the case.
“I wouldn’t say [chemistry] that was the biggest problem.” – he said. “Chemistry issues, I was fine with Geoff. He was a good mentor of mine actually, he taught me a lot of things. It’s hard to say exactly what went wrong.“
“It’s my biggest dream as a soccer player, I always wanted to play in the World Cup,” – the 19-year-old added. “You can imagine how I feel about that.”
Christian Pulisic finished the 2017–18 season managing to secure Champions League spot in the upcoming season with Borussia Dortmund. He played in 43 games for Dortmund in all competitions and scored five times.
