The U.S. men’s national team wanted a fast start to Copa America 2024 and got it off Christian Pulisic’s goal in the third minute, then eased past Bolivia 2-0 in Group C play on Sunday in Arlington, Texas.
Pulisic, nicknamed “Captain America,” also assisted on the 44th-minute score by Folarin Balogun as the U.S., ranked 11th in the FIFA world rankings, took care of business as expected.
“We came out flying with a lot of intensity and obviously the early goal helped us a lot,” Pulisic said.
The No. 84 Bolivians have the lowest ranking in the 16-team field and have one win in their past 31 Copa America matches, that coming in 2015 vs. Ecuador. They’ve earned no points in seven of the past eight tournaments.
“To get a win was massive for us, builds the confidence, shows we’re here to win, we’re here to play and it puts us in good stead for the next game,” U.S. defender Antonee Robinson said.
Despite Bolivia’s ranking the Americans took no chances, creating an opportunity in the first 20 seconds when Joe Scally fired from outside the box. The ball went toward an unmarked Balogun, but he couldn’t get a foot on it.
Balogun was part of the first goal when he won a corner. Pulisic went short to Tim Weah on the left side. He returned the ball to Pulisic for a line drive from the top of the box to the upper-right corner despite the strike going off the fingertips of goalkeeper Guillermo Viscarra.
“We had the idea if they only brought one (defender), we’d take the 2-v-1,” Pulisic said, “and basically the idea was to shoot at the back post and things can happen, and sure enough it went in.”
Pulisic needed 69 matches for his 30th goal, the fewest by a USMNT player. He scored his first international goal against Bolivia on May 28, 2016.
The U.S. struggled to find a second goal until Gio Reyna pushed a pass ahead to Pulisic. Balogun made a run on the left side and ripped a shot to the far netting to end a six-match goalless drought. He has four goals in 13 matches.
The U.S. kept attacking and Ricardo Pepi, who entered in the 65th minute, was denied four times, twice in the 90th by Viscarra, who had six saves.
“I think if we were being picky, we could have been a lot more clinical and could have put another two or three goals away, so we’ll take the positives from this and move on,” Robinson said.
Matt Turner made three saves for his 25th shutout.
The U.S. plays CONCACAF rival Panama (No. 43) on Thursday in Atlanta while Uruguay (No. 14) meets Bolivia in East Rutherford, N.J.
“The message to the team is it’s always important to win your first game,” U.S. coach Gregg Berhalter said. “We talked about progressing our performance, improving our performance throughout the tournament, so I think it was a good starting point.”
–Field Level Media
