U.S. Abroad: Pulisic looks to stick it out at Dortmund

What were the odds, say, two months ago that when Bayern Munich played Borussia Dortmund for the German Super Group that Julian Green, not Christian Pulisic, would be the lone American who'd dress for one of the two teams? Pulisic's absence -- and Dortmund's suddenly deep bench -- touched off speculation that he might move on loan.

German Cup, First Round:
FRIDAY:
Julian Green (Bayern Munich), at Carl Zeiss Jena
Fafa Picault (St. Pauli), at Luebeck
SATURDAY:
Shawn Barry, FSV Frankfurt, vs. Wolfsburg
Terrence Boyd (RB Leipzig), at Dynamo Dresden
Fabian Johnson (Bor. Moenchengladbach), at Drochtersen/Assrl
Jerome Kiesewetter (Fortuna Duesseldorf) at Hansa Rostock
Joel Sonora (VfB Stuttgart), at Homburg
SUNDAY:
John Brooks (Hertha Berlin), at Jahn Regensburg
Russell Canouse (Bochum), at Astoria Walldorf
Timmy Chandler (Ein. Frankfurt), at Magdeburg
Jann George (Jahn Regensburg), vs. Hertha Berlin
Aron Johannsson (Werder Bremen), at Sportfreunde Lotte
Alfredo Morales (FC Ingolstadt), at Erzgebirge Aue
MONDAY:
Bryan Gaul (Kickers Offenbach), vs. Hannover 96
Christian Pulisic (Bor. Dortmund), at Eintracht Trier
Mark Taylor (Kickers Offenbach), vs. Hannover 96
Bobby Wood (Hamburg), at Zwickau
Andre Wooten (Sandhausen), at Paderborn

Reports of a loan move to second division VfB Stuttgart were quashed by German magazine kicker. And the German press quoted his father, Mark, the former indoor star who works as a youth coach at Dortmund, as telling the tabloid Bild that his son had no interest in leaving the club and wants to continue to break through.

Pulisic, who won't turn 18 until October, was promoted to Dortmund's first team in January and played 12 games, scoring two goals and providing two assists. He became the fourth youngest player ever and youngest non-German-born player to score in the Bundesliga and the youngest player in league history to score two goals.

Injuries to other players late in the season contributed to the playing opportunities Pulisic received. He bounced between the Dortmund first team and its U-19s in 2015-16 but will stay with the first team in 2016-17.

The catch: Dortmund has gone on a spending spree during the offseason, adding two 2014 German World Cup champions, Mario Goetze and Andre Schuerrle and Raphael Guerreiro, who started on Portugal's Euro 2016 championship team, French teenager Ousmane Dembele, Turkish-Dane Emre Mor and Spanish defender Marc Bartra.

The BVB bench for the Super Cup included Goetze and Schuerrle, plus a third 2014 German World Cup champion Roman Weidenfeller, Mor and Guerreiro, plus Lukasz Piszczek, who plays for Poland, and highly regarded German midfielder Julian Weigl. All but Weidenfeller were at Euro 2016.




At Dortmund's media day on Wednesday, Pulisic said his goal is "to have a great season. Obviously I want to play as much as I can and we want to win the league if we can."

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