U.S. teenage star Christian Pulisic predicts ‘revenge win’ over Mexico on Sunday

After an exciting friendly against Venezuela at our very own Rio Tinto, the United States national team is back in action in World Cup qualifying as they take on the Soca Warriors of Trinidad & Tobago in what will be a critical home game for the US.

USA midfielder Christian Pulisic, left, works the ball past Trinidad & Tobago defender Akhenaton Edwards during the first half of a World Cup soccer qualifying match Thursday, June 8, 2017, in Commerce City, Colo.

Pulisic, who plays professionally for German titan Borussia Dortmund, has scored four goals in his past four USA appearances and seven in 15 matches since joining the senior squad 15 months ago.

Despite the Thursday night game has less of an importance than the tilt against Mexico at the Estadio Azteca, Arena has stated that his team is more focused on taking on the Soca Warriors first and then to shift all attention to El Tri three days later.

Then, once the second half commenced, it became the Pulisic show for the US, as the teenager bagged his sixth and seventh worldwide goals of his young career.

The 18-year-old Borussia Dortmund star bagged a brace Thursday in Colorado Thursday night as the US soundly defeated Trinidad & Tobago 2-0 in a must-win CONCACAF World Cup Qualifier Thursday night in Colorado.

Both teams had good chances in the first half despite the timid start to the match. Obviously, they will go hell-for-leather to get one, but that’s just what playing your rival requires. They underwhelmed, registering zero goals scored, 4 conceded, and walked away dead last in the group with only 1 point. It was Nagbe who crafted the USA opener that allowed coach Bruce Arena to breathe a huge sigh of relief. “He’s a natural for the game”. He looked very comfortable in the open field and showed the sort of aggression that could take his game to a higher level. CONCACAF represents soccer in North and Central America and the Caribbean.

Costa Rica are in second place on eight points after drawing 0-0 with Panama, who trail the United States by a point. If a team can win all 5 home games, and grab a draw or win here or there on the road, they are nearly guaranteed advancement.

Thomas Tuchel, the coach who promoted Pulisic to the first team, was sacked three days after the win over Eintracht Frankfurt in the German Cup final, the fallout of clashes with chief executive Hans-Joachim Watzke and sporting director Michael Zorc.

Mexico’s attacking forces likely won’t be as forgiving come Sunday.

Yedlin would feed it to forward Jozy Altidore as the ideal decoy for Pulisic to make another run.

Dennis Lawrence, the T&T head coach, felt his charges were unfortunate.

“I just thought I’d hit it on the ground”. Both teams struggled with it. “Individual errors is probably what cost us”, he said.

Teenaged midfielder Christian Pulisic gave the Americans their only goals, scoring 10 minutes apart early in the second half.

Clint Dempsey: Aside from a nice pass in the build-up to the first goal, it was a rough night for Dempsey who was slow and inactive.

Nathan Lewis thought he had produced an immediate response for the visitors but his goal was correctly ruled out for offside, before Pulisic struck the post from an angle.

Altidore was about 35 yards out when he split the defense with a bouncing pass that led to the second goal. The sequence came after Pulisic was yanked down in the center circle, subjected to more physical play as he was in Panama in the most recent qualifier. The Seattle Sounders forward was chasing his 57th worldwide strike, a number that would tie him with Landon Donovan at the top of the all-time U.S. scoring chart. Dempsey and Altidore were the strikers – Bobby Wood came off the bench – and a fairly standard backline of Jorge Villafana, John Brooks, Geoff Cameron, and DeAndre Yedlin.

“He’s capable of it”, Arena said.

But the biggest altitude problem ahead of the game was the low position of the U.S. in the standings: out of the rarefied air of the places ensuring automatic qualification for next year’s tournament in Russian Federation and six points adrift of Mexico at the summit. “I’m very confident in this group of players”, he said. We talked about it. He’s got a real competitive edge to him. The U.S. – population roughly 326 million – is 12-1-3 in World Cup qualifying against the Soca Warriors, including 7-0-1 at home. “They’re a good team”. “We’ve started off 2017 in pretty good shape so I’m pleased at this time”.

But Arena and veterans like Altidore haven’t had an issue relying on those younger and/or less experienced players in big moments. Costa Rica defender Giancarlo Gonzalez was given a red card in the 54th minute.