Christian Pulisic Discusses Playing for USA in 2020 Summer Olympics

Chelsea winger Christian Pulisic won't rule out playing for the United States in the 2020 Summer Olympics, saying it would be an honour to represent the Stars and Stripes in Tokyo.

Per the Associated Press (h/t ESPN), the youngster was asked about participating in the tournament on Wednesday, two days before a friendly against Mexico: "I would never completely count that out because it's a huge honour to play for your country in the Olympics. A lot of factors come into play, I guess, but we'll see."

Mark Zaleski/Associated Press

He also believes the Americans have the talent to do well in Japan and perhaps even win, just as El Tri did in 2012: "We're a confident young group of guys, and I think there's no reason why we couldn't. We set big goals for ourselves and, yeah, that would be one of them. That would be something I think we could do."

The 20-year-old will be eligible to play in the tournament next year as part of an exciting core of youngsters that also includes the likes of Weston McKennie, Tyler Adams and Tim Weah. The defence could be bolstered by Sergino Dest, who has had a fantastic start to the season with Ajax, although he could still switch to representing the Netherlands, per sports writer Ives Galarcep:

Clubs are not required to release their players for the tournament or qualifying, per the report. CONCACAF qualifying takes place in late March, when Chelsea will still be active in the Premier League and possibly Europe, while the tournament itself will run during pre-season and possibly the start of the domestic campaign.

The Americans haven't qualified for the past two tournaments and missed out on the 2018 FIFA World Cup as well. They did make it to the final of the Gold Cup earlier this year, winning all of their matches until a 1-0 loss against Mexico at the final hurdle.

The two rivals will meet again on Friday, one of two friendlies for the Stars and Stripes before the start of their CONCACAF Nations League campaign in October.

The clash in New Jersey will pit Pulisic against Napoli star Hirving Lozano, another winger with tremendous potential. When asked who of the two is the better player, Pulisic remained diplomatic:

Friday's match against Mexico will be followed by a friendly against Uruguay on Tuesday. Canada and Cuba, the Stars and Stripes' opponents in Group A of the Nations League, will face each other twice during the international break.