U.S. men's national team star Christian Pulisic scored his first goal of the season on Sunday, doing so in style as AC Milan took an early lead against Lecce in Serie A play. The play began with center back Strahinja Pavlovic scanning the field while deep in Milan's half, weighing his options with a series of teammates in front of him. Pulisic has his head turned toward Pavlovic and spots him getting ready to make a long pass, all while the defender realizes the American is in an ideal position to make a run towards goal.
Pavlovic kicks things off and Pulisic is off to the races, easily outrunning two opponents as he enters the penalty area and takes a slick first touch with his right foot to control the ball. Once the ball hits the ground, he takes a shot with the inside of his left foot. The ball skids past Lecce goalkeeper Wladimiro Falcone before rolling into the back of the net in the 14th minute.
CHRISTIAN PULISIC OPENS THE SCORING FOR AC MILAN 💥The American opens his account for the season at the San Siro on its 100th anniversary weekend 🏟️Watch Serie A on @paramountplus 📺 pic.twitter.com/6AQoRjpO9Q Pulisic's goal comes a week after he notched an assist in a 2-2 draw at Lazio, in which Milan came back from a 2-0 halftime deficit. Last week's game was the winger's first of the campaign while Sunday's match against Lecce marked his first start under new Milan coach Ruben Amorim. Pulisic was slowly integrated into Amorim's team after an injury-plagued World Cup, which ended with a microfracture in his leg, forcing him to miss much of Milan's preseason.
The match against Lazio marked his first game of the season and with a substitute appearance in a 2-0 loss to Benfica on Wednesday in the UEFA Europa League, the 28-year-old is now building match fitness ahead of a busy season for the Italian club. He was omitted from the USMNT's squad for their upcoming friendlies in late September and early October, head coach Mauricio Pochettino instead choosing to oversee a generational shift with 12 uncapped players headlining a roster that also includes 13 members of this summer's World Cup team. Pochettino did not comment specifically on Pulisic's inclusion, instead emphasizing that the first post-World Cup friendlies are as good a chance as any to expand the player pool.
"After the World Cup, we started to change and to see and to analyze all the potential player for this camp," Pochettino said in a press conference on Thursday. "Like always, I think the 28 players that are going to be involved in these four games, for different circumstances, are the best players or [are] the players that we want to see and that we want to work [with] and that's it … I think now it's a [completely] different approach than was in the past. The World Cup is in four years.
We need to work with different objectives and goals and for different reasons, [the] roster is a roster that is the best roster that we can design for this camp." Pulisic's goal is also his first for Milan since Dec. 28 and only his second for club or country during that 30-game stretch. Finding the scoresheet at the club level is not usually a struggle for the U.S. international, though – he has scored 10-plus goals in each of his previous three seasons with Milan and will be targeting similar figures this campaign.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
