Listen I know this isn’t a big deal to a lot of countries in the world, but occasionally as an American soccer fan you need to take a moment and realize the progress that’s been made, and how exciting a time this all is.
Today is one of those days. Three Americans — Christian Pulisic, Gio Reyna, and Weston McKennie — scored for top European clubs in their domestic leagues today. The clubs they play for — Chelsea, Dortmund, and Juventus — are all (in theory) in contention for their top flight title, and all playing in the Champions League.
All three of the players are 22 years old or younger.
This is WILD. We’ve never had anything like this ever happen before in this country, ever. We’ve had players make dents in Europe, to be sure, but at this age, at clubs of this caliber, scoring goals? All at once? No. Nothing like this. Nothing close to this.
Let’s start with Pulisic’s goal for Chelsea, a lovely tight finish after a late, gut-busting run to get in the six-yard box. Timo Werner is played in, Pulisic makes the run and gets across the defender to the near post, and slides with the finish.
GET IN @cpulisic_10! 🇺🇸
(@NBCSportsSoccer) pic.twitter.com/TD0ZJN2Dbu
— U.S. Soccer MNT (@USMNT) December 5, 2020
On to McKennie, who came in as a sub in Juventus’ match against Torino, then got the tying goal in a comeback performance that saw his side prevail 2-1. Off a designed corner play, McKennie timed his run, got in behind, and finished coolly with his head.
After coming off the bench, @USMNT midfielder @WMckennie provides the equalizer for @juventusfcen today.
It's his first goal for the 🇮🇹 giants! WAY TO GO WES! 🇺🇸
(@espn) pic.twitter.com/R6GagTxKSj
— U.S. Soccer MNT (@USMNT) December 5, 2020
Then, for the finale: Reyna. I mean, I don’t even know what to say about this goal. Kid’s 18 years old and he just did this against a Bundesliga side. Absolute bomb.
What a strike by Gio Reyna 🔥
He becomes the second youngest American to score two Bundesliga goals after Christian Pulisic. pic.twitter.com/FyDGXe433O
— ESPN (@espn) December 5, 2020
This is cool. This is very cool. The last time three Americans scored in top flights on the same day was 15 years ago, when Brian McBride, Gio’s dad Claudio Reyna, and Jermaine Jones did it. They weren’t all under 23 years old, however, and they weren’t playing for Champions League-caliber sides.
This is new, and exciting, and different. We can geek out a bit.
