Georgie, or Germany?

Back in 2006, not long before I covered my first World Cup in person, I had an opportunity to interview Landon Donovan for an ESPN Soccernet article (this was so long ago, it's not even archived anywhere anymore). On the heels of a 2002 USA quarterfinal finish and winning the World Cup Young Player award, there was a big focus on LD. Had American soccer finally found its savior? 

To me, that was the wrong question altogether. I don't remember exactly when I first saw the video of George Best and his enchanting, mazy run in NASL action with the Earthquakes, but I was entranced. Best was aptly named and his skills were beyond doubt, yet that wasn't ever going to be enough to take Northern Ireland to a World Cup. 

The USA's dream run in 2002 hadn't been driven exclusively by Donovan, either, though he impressed, no doubt. The deep run in the tournament required key contributions by young MLS talents such as Clint Mathis, Damarcus Beaseley, Pablo Mastroeni, Brian McBride and key veterans such as Eddie Pope, as well as wily European-tested players like Claudio Reyna, Tony Sanneh, Eddie Lewis and John O'Brien. Brad Friedel was also in top form. Then the US played Germany. The team spirit the USA had built all through the tournament shone against one of the world's biggest teams, but a Michael Ballack goal was the difference to eliminate the scrappy Americans. 

Germany didn't consider Michael Ballack a savior, of course. He was merely one in a long line of German greats. To me, it was telling that Germans didn't seem to even bother ever entering into the Pele/Maradona/Best/Cruyff argument of who was the greatest player. They just kept playing good soccer and winning World Cups (4x). 

American Soccer, in my view, didn't need saving as much as it needed to be spared the angst many in the soccer community exhibited in obseessing continously on whatever their preferred unattainable silver bullet of soccer success happened to be (converting top athletes to play socccer, pro/rel, joining CONMEBOL, etc).

I sat down with Donovan, asked questions and wrote up the article, trying to capture some of his enigmatic personality and quirks, but also tackling that inferiority aspect, since the first line went something like this:

Landon Donovan will not save U.S.A soccer. 

And the last line of the piece: American soccer can save itself, followed Donovan's quotes about some other young players he was expecting to make their impact on behalf of the US at the World Cup - Clint Dempsey was one specific mention, as Donovan noted his hunger. 

Of course, that 2006 team didn't make it out of group play. Donovan didn't score a single goal and Dempsey announced himself on the world stage by scoring, albeit in a losing effort. It was a low point for American soccer fans  -- though of course, not nearly as low as the fateful 10/10/2017 World Cup qualifying elimination. On the field that day for the infamous failure was a new US soccer darling, Christian Pulisic. His unmistakable talent couldn't propel the team to avoid a loss, but his star, already in the ascendency in his European club career, has risen now to the No. 10 jersey on the Premier League team, Chelsea. 

Especially for US fans starved for overseas club success for their players, that accomplishment alone puts Pulisic in the conversation for best American player ever, and there's more than a few articles focused on that discussion. Your milage may vary on how captivating the debate is when it still distills down to a version of, "Yes, our country's men's soccer team sucks, but here's this one very, very good player everyone has to respect!"

USMNT's best 5 attackers and their contributions in major games over minutes played in a chart. pic.twitter.com/o6yVL3H2ot

— Tutul Rahman (@tutulismyname) August 12, 2020

Do American soccer fans want their team to be more like Germany, and Pulisic to be an important cog in that machine, or do they want to have Pulisic be their George Best? I honestly appreciate both, but for different reasons. 

I'm curious if Pulisic checks out his old team, Dortmund, partly to see how Gio Reyna is progressing -- or views highlight clips of a wide array of young talented Americans, both abroad and in MLS, who might be contibuting teammates in the future mission of getting the USA men back to the World Cup tournament, and then powering another deep run to actually compete for the title. The USMNT reached the semifinal in 1930, but the squad has never contented in the championship final. Pulisic is still young enough to imagine himself at multiple future World Cups. It's a long way from not even playing in the tournament, to vying for the trophy, but there's a new generation of possibilities now, and the alchemy to meld them well can happen, even if it's more elusive than establishing an alltime best.