These next few weeks are a bit of a quiet period for international soccer with the Gold Cup officially over and European top leagues still one month away from the start to their season. We do have some great MLS performances to comment on, but in addition to our normal weekly breakdown, we thought we’d also preview one key USMNT player’s upcoming season for the next few newsletters.

We are starting with none other than Christian Pulisic, who is about to start his biggest season yet. In fact, he’s already noted that he intends to cut his vacation short in order to start work with his new Chelsea teammates as soon as possible.

As always, please feel free to email us at hello@onegoal.us to let us know what you think about our newsletter! As we mentioned last week, we have been working hard at OneGoal to continue to give you the best USMNT content, but we want to keep improving! That’s why we need your feedback and are asking for a few of your minutes to complete our feedback survey. Thank you and we promise, we have much more in store.

OneGoal USMNT 2019/2020 Season Player Previews

Christian Pulisic (20, Hershey, PA) - Chelsea FC, Premier League

Coming off a superb Gold Cup in which he was named Young Player of the Tournament, Christian Pulisic has it all to prove. Pulisic is well known for his accomplishments with Borussia Dortmund and the USMNT, part of the reason why Chelsea had to pay a staggering $73 million for his transfer back in January. The most expensive American soccer player of all time now must deliver on a squad that has just sold its marquee playmaker and goalscorer, Eden Hazard. On top of that, Chelsea have been slapped with a transfer ban and relieved head coach Maurizio Sarri, who secured a Champions League football and Europa League trophy. With change there is always opportunity, and Pulisic must have this vision, as Chelsea will be limited in player selection and now have club legend Frank Lampard at the helm.

Lampard may be the perfect mentor for Pulisic. The top all time goal scorer and assister (211 goals, 92 assists) for Chelsea, Lampard plied his trade in the center of the pitch either behind an attacking midfielder or as a number 10. Though Pulisic has spent the majority of his career as an out-and-out winger, there have been clear signs that he is developing a skillset to play as an attacking midfielder. Berhalter played Christian in the 10 role for the entirety of the Gold Cup, which saw him score and assist three times each. For the United States, Pulisic is quite clearly the focal point of the attack. Throughout the recent tournament, Pulisic had the freedom to roam, drifting out wide, swinging in crosses, driving at defenders 1v1, and even dropping back to pick up the ball near the halfway line to spark movements forward.

For Chelsea, there have been murmurs that Lampard would like to employ Pulisic in a similar role. For a Champions League level squad, the attacking talent is more evenly distributed, so Pulisic will not have to bear the burden of being the main offensive engine. What he will have to learn is the ability to link up with his teammates and distribute a top class final pass. From a central position, he may not be able to run as freely at defenders as he is used to doing out wide. Another challenge for Pulisic is the immense physicality of the Premier League. There is a difference between running at a CONCACAF defender and at one that has won a World Cup. Just “bulking up” a little might be too obvious of an answer for Pulisic to gain a competitive edge; he will have to work off of his teammates and perfect his already impressive turning and first touch finishing.

Let’s take a deep breath for a second though - at 20 years old, Pulisic is already one of the greatest American players ever. He will continue to be successful and Frank Lampard will surely impart some priceless knowledge on him. Though he might not score a hattrick in the season opener against Manchester United, he will continue to grow and we should all support him as he embarks on his biggest test yet.

Star of the Week

Keaton Parks (21, Plano, TX) - NYCFC, MLS

This week’s Star of the Week goes to Keaton Parks, who was a dominant figure in this week’s Hudson River derby between the Red Bulls and NYCFC (2-1). In a holding midfield role, Keaton (who wears his first name on his jersey), was NYCFC’s orchestrator in the midfield, as the young American showed tremendous abilities to play out of tight spaces. To that end, despite his 6’4 frame, Keaton looks extremely elegant on the ball and we’d already peg him more comfortable than current USMNT players in the center of the midfield.

More than that, Keaton showed the ability to find the right teammates in the right spaces, at the right time. For a 21-year-old who is just recently working his way onto the first team, his composure and vision was beyond impressive. One area where Keaton has room to improve is in showing a bit more aggression when working against the ball, though he has a knack to drift into the right places on defense - something that is like to bolster his interception numbers. Lastly, Keaton seems like a good tactical fit for Berhalter’s possession oriented system.

If Keaton continues to string together performances such as this one against the Red Bulls, we think he could have a future with the USMNT. Berhalter already got a first hand look at him when the U23s joined the senior team practice ahead of the Gold Cup, so we are sure he is on the radar.