The international break is the perfect time to speculate upon who may or may not participate in the next Summer Olympics, and today the question was posed to Chelsea FC and United States star Christian Pulisic.
“I would never completely count that out because it’s a huge honor to play for your country in the Olympics,” the 20-year-old told the Associated Press at a media availability ahead of the U.S. exhibition against their arch-rivals Mexico.
“A lot of factors come into play, I guess, but we’ll see,” Pulisic said.
The Pennsylvania native, who also opened up on how his first month at Chelsea is going, comes off a phenomenal showing in the Gold Cup this summer, in which helped lead the USA to runner-up finish in the tournament.
USMNT Coach Gregg Berhalter hailed the performance of Pulisic this summer, saying that he truly blossomed. Tokyo 2020 will get here before you know it, with the schedule set to run from July 23rd to August 8th.
Olympic qualifying is limited to players under the age of 23, with three slots allotted to players over 23 for the final tournament. Of course, given recent history, Pulisic might have the decision whether or not to play in the Olympics made for him.
The Stars and Stripes have failed to qualify for the last two Olympics (2016 and 2012), and they missed out on the 2018 World Cup as well.
Pulisic is not deterred though. The question was put to him whether or not the Americans can make a Gold Medal run like their neighbors to the south did in 2016.
“We’re a confident young group of guys and I think there’s no reason why we couldn’t,” the winger/midfielder added. “We set big goals for ourselves and, yeah, that would be one of them. That would be something I think we could do.”
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, the author of “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,” regularly appears on WGN CLTV and co-hosts the “Let’s Get Weird, Sports” podcast on SB Nation.
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