Kai Havertz just seems to enjoy scoring silverware clinching goals. That, or it’s making scoring strikes when his big boss, Roman Abramovich is in attendance. Havertz sealed the deal today, on a penalty in added extra time, as Chelsea outlasted Brazilian side Palmeiras in the FIFA Club World Cup on Saturday.
The final score line of 2-1 clinched Chelsea’s first ever triumph in the competition. And in doing so, they have now won ever major club competition (one of 21 trophies) during the Abramovich era.
“It never stops. We want to keep on winning trophies,” Blues boss Thomas Tuchel said on the pitch in Abu Dhabi after the triumph. Romelu Lukaku opened the scoring in the match, in the 55′, but Raphael Veiga equalized, via a penalty, for the runners-up in the 64′.
It was an extremely tightly-contested affair, which was finally settled by Havertz in the 117′. When Christian Pulisic came on for Mason Mount in the 31′, it meant that he became the first American to ever feature in the Club World Cup.
And the victory gave him his fourth piece of silverware, for club and country, in the past nine months:
What a wonderful time to be the Pennsylvanian wing/attacking midfielder. But it’s definitely not easy being him, as he made clear in a revealing interview with ESPN. The Messi of Hershey, Pennsylvania said that sometimes the pressure of being ascribed Captain America gets to him. More specifically, that he sometimes puts too much pressure on himself.
“Sometimes it is tough,” Pulisic said.
“I still haven’t completely learned. Especially going back to the U.S., sometimes I put too much pressure on myself that I need to do something special where I just need to play the best I can, do what I can do and hopefully people recognize that.
“It is just about playing my game, doing it to the best of my ability and not worrying about what any outside sources say because that’s not what really matters.”
Pulisic later added:
“For example, in the last national team games, the first couple I’m going into it thinking, ‘I need to overperform and do something to save the team,’ but there’s no need for that because we have a very strong team,” said Pulisic, who made his U.S. debut in March 2016 and has 45 caps.
“I think at times I was overthinking it and try to be too good in a way that’s not necessary. I don’t need to, whatever, overcomplicate things.”
Up next for Pulisic and Chelsea is a Premier League fixture against Crystal Palace. Their weekend match with Arsenal had to be rescheduled.
Paul M. Banks is the owner/manager of The Bank (TheSportsBank.Net) and author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” as well as “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.”
He has regularly appeared in WGN, Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune, and co-hosts the After Extra Time podcast. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram.