U.S. Abroad: Pulisic makes the grade in UCL debut
- by Paul Kennedy @pkedit, Sep 14, 2016
The closest Pulisic came to scoring came in the first half when Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was stopped by Legia Warsaw keeper Arkadiusz Malarz on a ball the American might have scored
on.
The game was Dortmund's first after a year's absence from the Champions League and it led 3-0 after 17 minutes on goals by Mario Goetze, Sokratis Papastathopoulos and
Juan Bartra. Portuguese Raphael Guerreiro, Castro and Aubameyang complete the scoring.
The French sports daily L'Equipe, which founded the European Cup and grades all the games, gave Pulisic a rating of 7, the second best on Dortmund behind only Guerreiro's 8. (Only two other 8s -- to Manchester City's Sergio Aguero and Monaco's Bernardo Silva -- were handed out in Wednesday's eight games.)
"Even if it looked easy," said Dortmund coach Thomas Tuchel, "there was a lot of our work behind it. Legia's problem was that we were very efficient in the
first 25 minutes. We quickly scored goals that helped us to get more self-confidence for the remaining part of the game."
Pulisic and Fabian Johnson were the two Americans who
started on Day 1 of the Champions League. Johnson's Borussia Moenchengladbach was crushed at Manchester City, 4-0.
Cameron Carter-Vickers (Tottenham) and Julian Green
(Bayern Munich) were unused subs.
U.S. Abroad:
UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE
Cameron Carter-Vickers (Tottenham),
DP, 1-2 vs. Monaco
Julian Green (Bayern Munich), DNP, 5-0 vs. Rostov
Fabian Johnson (Bor. Moenchengladbach), 90 minutes, 0-4 at Manchester City
Christian Pulisic (Bor.
Dortmund), 90 minutes, 1 assist, 6-0 at Legia Warsaw
ENGLAND, League
Championship
Eric Lichaj (Nott. Forest), 90 minutes, 1 yellow card, 2-2 at Rotherham United
Tim Ream (Fulham), DNP, 1-1 vs. Burton Albion
Jonathan
Spector (Birmingham City), 90 minutes, 1-1 at Reading
Danny Williams (Reading), 90 minutes, 1-1 vs. Birmingham City
DeAndre Yedlin (Newcastle United), sub-17 minutes, 6-0
at Queens Park Rangers
CONCACAF CHAMPIONS LEAGUE
Wednesday: Edgar Castillo (Monterrey), at Arabe United
Omar
Gonzalez (Pachuca), 45 minutes, 11-0 at Police United
MEXICO, Copa MX
Paul Arriola (Tijuana), 66 minutes, 1-2 at Toluca
Greg Garza (Tijuana),
DNP, 1-2 at Toluca
Rodrigo Lopez (Celaya), 90 minutes, 2-2 at Atlante
Amando Moreno (Tijuana), 84 minutes, 1 red card, 1-2 at Toluca
John
Requejo (Tijuana), 90 minutes, 1-2 at Toluca
Sebastian Saucedo (Veracruz), DNP, 1-1 at Santos
Alejandro Zendejas (Guadalajara), 84 minutes, 1-1 at Chiapas
Sweet!