WHO GOT THE GOAL TONIGHT? AARONSON. HOW DID HE GET IT? BY NOT GETTING HACKED DOWN AND THROWING HIS BODY INTO HARM'S WAY.
Do you have the 2018 WCQ Pulisic in your back pocket? The 2021 CP missed the ELS game because of jet lag, and got thrown around like a rag doll against one of the more mild teams in the federation, ON OWN HOME SOIL.
I'm conceding that CP is our best offensive player, but his track record in regular league play works against him withstanding the rigors of getting pushed around like he did tonight. I'll repeat it: CP is like a Jaguar E-Type--good looking and desirable but the last thing you'd enter in a demolition derby, and CONCACAF qualifying is definitely more demolitions derby than beauty contest.
This is CONCACAF, where no matter how talented the US is, everyone, including the powers that be, have a different set of rules for us, and for once we have a deep enough talent pool to beat them at their own game. CONCACAF isn't pretty and we need to stop trying to make it such and instead embrace it and beat them at their own game. We have guys who can play into this stacked deck and get the results we want while playing by a double standard. When it comes to taking on the world, give me Brooks, CP and all the guys who play the way the rest of the world plays, but to get there, give me guys who can withstand the fires of hell and not wilt or have to benched as a precaution.
Aaronson isn't as good as CP, but he is tough enough to run through a wall with his hair on fire for 75 minutes or more and not have the entire fate of the team live and die with his health. Again, he's not CP, but that's not a bad thing, and maybe even be exactly what we need in this dogfight.