There was a time in 2023 when Wilfried Nancy felt he needed to make a point to Patrick Schulte. He wasn't going to delegate that task, either. Nancy himself was going to step onto that field and make it, and, to get that point across in full, he was going to have to be a little bit rough with his young star.
Schulte, the Columbus Crew's then 22-year-old rising goalkeeper, wasn't being as brave as his manager Nancy wanted. He wasn't coming out of goal and saying, "This is my ball and I don't care who's in the way". In Columbus, Nancy demands certain things of each player and, in Schulte's particular case, his head coach was demanding that he come get the damn ball when it's in the air. So, Nancy took to the field against Schulte after training and laid down a challenge: Come claim the ball over me.
"He wants me to be brave, to cause commotion, to cause chaos," Schulte tells GOAL with a laugh. "I was hesitant to come out, and he was like 'I don't care'. We spent 20 minutes the next day with our goalie coach whipping in crosses. He was jumping on my back, and it was rough. It was like an MMA fight in the six-yard box, but it was like, 'If you can get through this, if you can claim the ball with me doing all this, then why can't you do it in a game?' Moments like that make you better and give you confidence."
Call it one of many lessons Schulte has learned over the last few years on his rise, one that has happened about as quickly as a rise can. And you can call Nancy one of the many teachers along the way. There have been plenty, from coaches to the competition, that have made their mark on Schulte in the first few years of all of this.
Just three years ago, he was a first-round pick in the MLS SuperDraft. Two years ago, he became an MLS Cup champion. Last summer, he became an Olympian and, as the World Cup hangs over all, the 24-year-old goalkeeper has a very real chance of representing the U.S. men's national team on the biggest stage next summer. Schulte finds himself in the midst of a goalkeeping battle at the moment, and with just one year standing between him and a World Cup, there's a legitimate shot he ends up happy with the outcome of that battle on the other side.
It's little moments like that afternoon with Nancy that will get him there, but Schulte's big moments aren't lost on him either. All of this has gone quickly, even for him. Since arriving in Columbus as a rookie, life has been changing faster than he can process. The hope is, though, that this is just the beginning.
"It's been non-stop," he says. "I feel like there's always something to look forward to, something to strive for, a trip or a game or a camp that's about to happen. It's been go, go, go, but that's the life I want to live, you know? That's what I want to do. You want to be in camps, you want to make rosters, you want to win trophies. It's been crazy, but I enjoy it all, and I want it to continue. This isn't just something for 2024 or 2025; I hope this is what this is all like for the rest of my career."
GOAL caught up with Schulte to discuss his rise, his USMNT ambitions, the lessons he's learned already and his goal to play in the biggest games possible.
