U.S. Men’s National Team Stars Christian Pulisic Scored his first goal of the season on Sunday, in style AC Milan Taking an early lead against Lecce in Serie A.
As the game began, centre-back Strasinja Pavlovich scanned the pitch deep inside Milan’s half, weighing his options with a series of teammates in front of him. Pulisic turned his head to Pavlovich and found him preparing a long pass, and the defender realized that the American was in an ideal position to drive towards goal. Pavlovic took the lead and Pulisic started the game, and after entering the penalty area, he easily surpassed two opponents and controlled the ball with a clever first touch with his right foot.
Once the ball hits the ground, he shoots with the inside of his left foot. In the 14th minute, the ball slid past Lecce goalkeeper Vladimiro Falcone and rolled into the net.
Watch the strike below.
Pulisic’s goal comes a week after he provided an assist in the 2-2 draw with Lazio, helping Milan comeback from a 2-0 halftime deficit. Last week’s game was the winger’s first of the new season, while Sunday’s game against Lecce marked his first start under new Milan coach Ruben Amorim. Pulisic has slowly integrated into Amorim’s side after an injury-plagued World Cup, with a microfracture in his leg forcing him to miss much of Milan’s pre-season. The match against Lazio was his first of the season and the 28-year-old is now gearing up for a busy season for the Italian club after coming on as a substitute in Wednesday’s 2-0 Europa League defeat to Benfica.
He was left out of the U.S. national team’s squad for upcoming friendlies in late September and early October, with head coach Mauricio Pochettino instead choosing to oversee a replacement that includes 12 players who have not represented the national team, including 13 players from this summer’s World Cup squad. Pochettino did not comment specifically on the addition of Pulisic, but emphasized that the first friendly match after the World Cup is a good opportunity to expand the roster.
“After the World Cup, we started to change, look at and analyze all the potential players in this training camp,” Pochettino told a news conference on Thursday. “As usual, I think the 28 players who will play these four games are, in different situations, the best players, or the best players. [are] Players we want to meet and work with [with] That’s it…I think it is now [completely] A different approach than in the past. It’s the World Cup in four years. We need to work with different goals and objectives and for different reasons, [the] The roster is the best we can design for this training camp. “
Pulisic’s goal was also his first for Milan since December 28 and his second for club or country in these 30 games. It won’t be difficult for the United States international to score goals at club level, though – he scored more than 10 goals in each of his first three seasons at Milan and will be targeting similar goals this season.