‘The LeBron James of soccer’ gasp USMNT fans after Christian Pulisic begins Copa America bid with stunning goal
SOCCER star Christian Pulisic has been compared to basketball icon LeBron James after his brilliant early goal in the men’s World Cup.
Pulisic scored after just three minutes with a superb curling shot as the United States beat Bolivia 2-0 in Arlington, Texas.
GettyPulisic celebrates after scoring for the United States against Bolivia[/caption]
AFPPulisic in action against Bolivia at the Copa America[/caption]
It was just the start the USMNT wanted in the tournament on home soil.
And fans were quick to hail captain Pulisic for his performance on X, the site formerly known as Twitter.
“THE LEBRON JAMES OF SOCCER,” one fan said.
“The American Messi,” another fan said.
“Such a great player to watch,” another fan said.
“USA dark horses for this tournament,” a fourth fan said.
“Good start, but they’ll have harder opponents than this,” a fifth fan said,
Pulisic got the United States off to the perfect start with his goal and then he set up the second for Folarin Balogun, who scored just before half-time.
US coach Gregg Berhalter was full of praise for Pulisic after the game.
“He’s a selfless leader. He goes out and competes and works, works really hard and that helps the team and then you add to the fact that he’s highly skilled and can make plays on the offensive end and create chances on the offensive end,” Berhalter said.
“It’s a great combination, and what you see is him supporting his teammates, him backing guys, him pushing guys.
“To me, it was an outstanding performance. He got coach’s man of the match and it was much deserved.
“The message to the team is it’s always important to win your first game,”
“We talked about progressing our performance, improving our performance throughout the tournament, so I think it was a good starting point.”
USMNT's Copa America schedule
Group C
Sun 23 June, 6pm ET – vs. Bolivia (AT&T Stadium, Arlington, Texas)
Thur 27 June, 6pm ET – vs. Panama (Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Atlanta, Georgia)
Mon 1 July, 9pm ET – vs. Uruguay (Arrowhead Stadium, Kansas City, Missouri)
Midfielder Pulisic, 25, plays his club football in Italy with AC Milan.
He was previous with Chelsea in the English Premier League for four years.
He made his debut for the US in 2016 and has scored 30 goals in 69 appearances.
The US will next face CONCACAF rivals Panama in Atlanta on Thursday.
In the other game in their group, Uruguay beat Panama 3-1.
Ronald Araujo, Darwin Nunez and Matias Vina scored the goals to give Uruguay a winning start.
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