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"&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;When Borussia Dortmund kicks off the second half of the Bundesliga season on Saturday, it will do so with an American trying to break into the lineup. Christian Pulisic, the United States Under-17 international who impressed with his performance at the 2015 FIFA U-17 World Cup, has been with the Dortmund first team since reconvening after winter break and is on the club's official roster for the rest of the season.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\u201CIt\u2019s incredible, first of all. Just an honor to play with these players,\u201D Pulisic\u200B, 17, told SI.com via telephone from Germany. \u201CThey\u2019re all helping me, and they want me to really be a part of the team. It\u2019s just a great experience for me.\u201D\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Despite his slight 5'8\" frame, Pulisic has quickly established himself as the most promising player coming through the U.S. youth ranks. His showing was a bright spot in an otherwise dismal U-17 World Cup for the U.S., and after winning a U-17 German championship with BVB, he scored four goals for Dortmund\u2019s U-19s in the first half of this season.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;He and German U-17 captain Felix Passlack, a teammate at the U-17 and U-19 levels, have been touted as academy players who could make an impact on the first team in the immediate future.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\u201CIt\u2019s cool that we\u2019re such close friends,\u201D Pulisic said. \u201CIt\u2019s always helpful to have a guy who you know, is your age and you can always rely on him and talk to him about stuff.\u201D\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Both players\u2019 opportunities with the first team have grown since Thomas Tuchel took over as the manager at the start of the year.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\u201C[Tuchel] is a great coach from the training perspective,\u201D Pulisic said. \u201CGetting to learn from him every day is really good, and it\u2019s getting me a lot better. I know that for sure. I definitely need a coach like him, and I know he\u2019s going to help me in my development.\u201D\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;After a 45-minute appearance against St. Pauli in a September friendly, Pulisic joined the first team for its midseason training camp in Dubai this month. He appeared in both matches there, scoring in stoppage time of a 4-1 win over South Korean top-flight leader&amp;nbsp;Jeonbuk Motors on Jan. 15.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Previous BVB manager Jurgen Klopp, now at Liverpool, also lauded the Hershey, Pennsylvania, native when he trained with the first team in 2015.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\u201CIn a very intense training session with narrow spaces, he did not stand out in a negative way,\u201D Klopp said at the time. \u201CThis is a real sign of quality.\u201D\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Pulisic said Turkish international Nuri \u015Eahin has been particularly welcoming as he takes his initial steps with the first team. \u015Eahin followed a similar path to Dortmund, making his first-team debut at 16 years and 334 days to set the record for youngest player to play in the Bundesliga. He became the youngest to score in the league three months later.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\u201CAlmost every training when I first came in, he\u2019s the guy who would put his arm around me, help me out and tell me kind of how things work around here,\u201D Pulisic said, \u201CAnd he\u2019s just always giving me advice on just simple stuff.\u201D\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Pulisic has appeared primarily on either wing for BVB, though he\u200B played as the playmaking No. 10 for the U.S. at the World Cup. He turned heads with his fearless, repeated runs at opposing defenses, showing great technical ability and a cool head in deciphering the proper situation to dribble or pass.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\u201CIt\u2019s been great to see the success he\u2019s had and how he\u2019s developed,\u201D former U.S. U-17 head coach and current Real Salt Lake assistant Richie Williams told SI.com. \u201C[He\u2019s] a very talented player, and he\u2019s a good person as well. You\u2019re always rooting for those players to continue to develop, to be successful.\u201D\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Growing up, Pulisic could draw plenty of soccer inspiration from his parents, who both played for George Mason University. His father, Mark, also played for the Harrisburg Heat indoor team from 1991 to 1999.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Christian Pulisic spent the majority of his youth playing days at Pennsylvania Classics, a U.S. Soccer Development Academy club, before joining the U.S. U-17 residency program. He also played for Michigan Rush when his father coached the Detroit Ignition of the Major Indoor Soccer League in 2006-07.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;PA Classics director Steve Klein said what struck him most besides Pulisic's talent were his drive and humility.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\u201CThat\u2019s his best quality, so I think that\u2019s what\u2019s enabling him\u2014plus, obviously, his talent\u2014to keep things in perspective and keep climbing the ladder,\u201D Klein told SI.com. \u201CThe thing that we always felt was going to help him through was he seemed to be very grounded and focused about his training and his goals.\u201D\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Said Williams: \u201COn top of all of those great qualities that he has, he\u2019s a competitor. \u2026 He\u2019s a smart kid, and he\u2019s mature. He gets it, and he\u2019s measured in what he says, and he thinks things through. That\u2019s only going to help him continue to grow as a soccer player.\u201D\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Before joining BVB\u2019s academy in July 2014, Pulisic also completed various training stints in England, Spain, Portugal and the Netherlands. Having played alongside some of the world\u2019s best players from such a young age, it\u2019s no surprise Pulisic hardly thinks about the credentials of those with whom he shares the field anymore.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\u201CSome of these guys just won a World Cup, and you\u2019re maybe a little star-struck at first,\u201D he said, \u201Cand now they\u2019re all my teammates. Of course, I have to give them that respect, but I\u2019m also fighting for the same positions that they all are.\u201D\r\n\r\n\r\n\t&lt;strong&gt;STRAUS: Morris's decision and the big picture of MLS vs. abroad&lt;/strong&gt;\r\n\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The next step will be playing in competitive matches with those players. Tuchel tried Pulisic on both sides of midfield in the midseason training camp, and Jonas Hofmann\u2019s departure to Borussia Monchengladbach on New Year\u2019s Day leaves an opportunity out wide.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\u201CIt\u2019s definitely hard to say if I\u2019m obviously going to be on the field playing in these Bundesliga matches, but that\u2019s the goal for me,\u201D Pulisic said. \u201COf course, there are always some injuries, and that could be an opportunity, but right now, I\u2019m just doing everything that I can every day in training and trying to earn my spot on that team.\u201D\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;His former coaches don\u2019t seem to doubt that his moment will come. However, Williams pointed out that Pulisic is still only 17, so his continued success might not be as rapid as his ascent so far.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\u201CHe has all the tools to be successful, and I think the one thing we need to be is patient,\u201D Williams said. \u201CIf you had to put money on it, you\u2019d think he\u2019s one of those players who would do well and would succeed.\u201D\r\n&lt;/p&gt;"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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