SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Wherever position Christian Pulisic occupies when the U.S. national team meets Honduras in Friday's pivotal CONCACAF World Cup qualifying match, the 18-year-old attacker will be looking to provide the same spark that helped propel Borussia Dortmund into next month's Champions League quarterfinals.
Pulisic had been deployed as a winger for Thomas Tuchel's side for most of his first full season with Dortmund's first team. But Tuchel has used him in a more central role recently, to devastating effect: earlier this month, Pulisic's game-winning goal took the Bundesliga power past Portugal's Benfica and into the last eight of Europe's premier club competition.
A week later, Pulisic hit another winner, this one against third-tier Lotte, that sealed a German Cup semifinal date with chief rival Bayern Munich.
Now Pulisic could play a similar role for his country. Or, U.S. coach Bruce Arena could opt to keep him out wide, the spot he manned in November in the Americans' most recent set of qualifiers for Russia 2018.
"I just like to be on the field really anywhere," Pulisic told reporters before the U.S. trained at Avaya Stadium on the eve of the match against Los Catrachos.
"Wherever I am on the field, I'm just trying to be an attacking presence and constantly be on their back four and try to make a difference in that way. So it doesn't matter where I play for my club. When I'm here, I'm going to try to do the same things."
But even for a player of Pulisic's ability, that's easier said than done. There are marked differences between how the sport is played at the club level overseas and in the hardscrabble CONCACAF region the U.S. competes in. Matches can be frantic and the refereeing can be as uneven as the pitches.
"CONCACAF games are tough," said Pulisic, who started in losses against Mexico and in Costa Rica last fall that left the U.S. 0-2 to open the final round of regional qualifying. He'd made his international debut in the previous round, playing against Guatemala and Trinidad and Tobago and at tiny St. Vincent and the Grenadines. "It's not always the best surroundings, the best situation, the best field."
Still, Pulisic believes his experiences with Dortmund over the last four months have prepared him to take on a bigger role with the U.S. this time around -- echoing comments U.S. teammate Tim Howard had made the day before.
"Being with Dortmund and playing in more big games there, it's just gaining experience. I feel even stronger than I was then," he said.
"I feel much more comfortable and confident going into this one."