USA Soccer Spotlight: How Will Pulisic Respond After Scoreless Outing vs. Belgium?
📖 Full Retelling
Mercedes-Benz Stadium (ATLANTA) — Christian Pulisic wants this responsibility. The one that requires him to carry the pressure weighing on the U.S. men’s national team as it embarks on what is expected to be a historic World Cup on home soil this summer. Pulisic, 27, has been in the senior national team for 10 years. He entered as a 17-year-old "next big thing" and has morphed into the face of the program. He’s seen unprecedented success playing in Europe, and at one point this season was AC Milan’s scoring leader. But on Saturday, following Belgium’s 5-2 dismantling of the American squad in a World Cup tuneup at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Pulisic was forced to once again explain a poor performance from the U.S. "I think we played well for big stretches of the game, but it’s just fine margins," a frustrated Pulisic told a group of reporters. "I mean, I have to be a bit more clinical and, yeah, defend. I mean, overall, it’s a tough result for us, but I don’t feel like it was a 5-2 game necessarily. So there are some things that we can definitely take positives from. But some things for sure we have to work on." The Americans were actually the better team for most of the first half against Belgium. Weston McKennie, who has been close friends with Pulisic since their youth soccer days, scored the first goal in the 39th minute off a corner from Antonee "Jedi" Robinson to give the U.S. a 1-0 lead. Belgium quickly responded, equalizing moments before halftime. Pulisic had scoring chances early. There was a header that soared over the top of the goal in the seventh minute, and he looked dangerous when a low shot went wide in the 14th. In the 52nd minute, Tim Weah did the dirty work and beat Maxim De Cuyper deep near the right corner of the field and flicked a pass with the outside of his left foot to Pulisic near the box. Pulisic dribbled inside with excitement and speed, but couldn’t get the ball exactly where he wanted and skied his shot over the crossbar. Less than a minute
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Mercedes-Benz Stadium (ATLANTA) — Christian Pulisic wants this responsibility. The one that requires him to carry the pressure weighing on the U.S. men’s national team as it embarks on what is expected to be a historic World Cup on home soil this summer. Pulisic, 27, has been in the senior national team for 10 years. He entered as a 17-year-old "next big thing" and has morphed into the face of the program. He’s seen unprecedented success playing in Europe, and at one point this season was AC Milan’s scoring leader. But on Saturday, following Belgium’s 5-2 dismantling of the American squad in a World Cup tuneup at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Pulisic was forced to once again explain a poor performance from the U.S. "I think we played well for big stretches of the game, but it’s just fine margins," a frustrated Pulisic told a group of reporters. "I mean, I have to be a bit more clinical and, yeah, defend. I mean, overall, it’s a tough result for us, but I don’t feel like it was a 5-2 game necessarily. So there are some things that we can definitely take positives from. But some things for sure we have to work on." The Americans were actually the better team for most of the first half against Belgium. Weston McKennie, who has been close friends with Pulisic since their youth soccer days, scored the first goal in the 39th minute off a corner from Antonee "Jedi" Robinson to give the U.S. a 1-0 lead. Belgium quickly responded, equalizing moments before halftime. Pulisic had scoring chances early. There was a header that soared over the top of the goal in the seventh minute, and he looked dangerous when a low shot went wide in the 14th. In the 52nd minute, Tim Weah did the dirty work and beat Maxim De Cuyper deep near the right corner of the field and flicked a pass with the outside of his left foot to Pulisic near the box. Pulisic dribbled inside with excitement and speed, but couldn’t get the ball exactly where he wanted and skied his shot over the crossbar. Less than a minute
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