No good writing is done after midnight.
Much like nothing good happens after 2am after a long night of partying, writing generally tends to suck after the midnight hour. Chalk it up to a long day, a lack of midnight snacks in the pantry, or just terrible television that hinders the creative mind. Writing is no different than calling or texting someone late. One might start off with the best of intentions but more often than not things tend to go into a downward spiral.
The good news is with writing is that so long as you do not hit submit there is always a chance to reflect on your thoughts and edit. So bad news: you will not see a bitter, grasping at straws take on the Christian Pulisic-Chelsea move here on this website. Much like so many podcasts and pitches that piece will never see the light of day.
However, the topic does need to be discussed. Pulisic signing with Chelsea for 58 million pounds is a huge deal. It is the largest transfer ever for an American player and the third largest for a player under the age of 21. It is a sign that there has been some progress in the development of the American male soccer player. Players are indeed trickling through even if the volume isn’t to the liking of everyone.
Quick sidebar: Anyone who fails to give a.) Pulisic’s parents-both former American soccer players and b.) PA Classics some credit are kidding themselves. Yes, Dortmund played a massive role in his development. But so too did those other two elements and they deserve as much credit as the Germans. That certainly won’t fit the 140 character narrative that some might have but in life things aren’t always black and white. In the United States we have to do better at crafting soccer arguments that are nuanced. It is okay to give American youth soccer some credit for Pulisic’s development and at the same time still hold concerns about our organization. Let’s work on our balancing act for 2019.
At this point normally a piece on ‘X American player signs with Y club’ usually devolves into a larger look at the state of American soccer. It is understandable why writers do this. It is a hot topic and one that usually gins up discussion and page views. But the ‘debate’ never seems satisfying and no real conclusions are drawn.
But that may be the true answer of what impact Pulisic’s move may have on American soccer: we don’t know. Not that his move will be a success or failure but that one player cannot move an entire sport in one country. There may be some short-term successes or failures that will have an impact but in the long-term perhaps the impact will not be as dramatic as we think. Christian may be one of the first players to make the jump to a major European club but he isn’t the first and he won’t be the last.
If we are to try and determine what is success for Pulisic at Chelsea for American soccer then we are going to need to determine the measures in which we define success. Usually at this point someone will mention ‘increased opportunities for American players both domestically and abroad’ or ‘additional revenue which in turn spikes interest in the American game’.
But those are very difficult to quantify and on a qualitative level can really only be found many years after the fact. Everyone likes to point out the story of the kid who watches video of his favorite player and then goes outside to replicate his moves. We won’t know for at least a generation if Pulisic caused kids to pick up a soccer ball and how many of them will go on to play at a professional level. Although there will be a short-term financial impact that too will take years to figure out. We saw this only recently with children who grew up watching the 1994 World Cup who are now financially independent and make their own financial decisions.
There are some exceptions to this. Obviously if this opportunity with Chelsea were to provide him with the skills to help win the World Cup that would certainly shift the discussion of American soccer. But that requires some serious digging through the tumbleweeds of how signing with a club team leads to a completely different team winning the World Cup. More opportunities? Learning new tactics? Again, very difficult to see the parallels. Mo Salah’s run with Egypt at this year’s World Cup proves that you can have one exceptional player but still fall way short if you don’t have the right players and the right organization around them.
Also, the club season is a very different animal than a tournament. Winning the Champions League or the Premier League might also create some change although that might not be as big of a ‘moment’ for American soccer.
In the end, that might actually be a little liberating for Mr. Pulisic. The United States, at least on the men’s side, still seems fixed on one player being the person to push us up to the next level. But what’s interesting is that when one looks at the next tier of soccer countries (which presumably includes Brazil, Germany, and France) these are countries that are developing a steady stream of players and not putting their eggs in one basket with one player.
That might be the biggest lesson in this saga: that while the Pulisic move is great the U.S. cannot grow complacent. There is more work to be done and to rely on one exceptionally talented player is a dangerous game.
