CHRISTIAN PULISIC’S PERFORMANCE against Liverpool on Sunday was easily good enough to earn a Man-of-the-Match award, but there was one problem: he wasn’t old enough.
Pulisic scored two second-half goals and helped set up a third in a 3-1 International Champions Cup victory over Liverpool in Charlotte, NC.
On most days, that would be enough to be named the game’s top performer.
But Sunday’s award was sponsored by Heineken and the 19-year-old Pulisic was not eligible, due to the legal drinking age in the United States being 21.
Instead the award went to Virgil van Dijk, who in addition to scoring a first-half goal for Liverpool, is 27 years old and can legally drink alcohol in the US.
Despite missing the award on a technicality, Pulisic put on a show at Bank of America Stadium, after being introduced as a half-time substitute.
Pulisic won a 66th-minute penalty that he converted himself, then grabbed an 89th-minute winner by finishing off a flowing Dortmund counter-attack.
Deep into stoppage time, the US international beat his defender in the box and Loris Karius parried his shot into the path of Jacob Bruun Larsen, who finished into an empty net.
The US star will look to continue his strong ICC performances on Wednesday against Benfica, though the Man-of-the-Match award will remain beyond his reach!
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