CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The weight Christian Pulisic has carried around for five months is off his shoulders now.
“He’s going to score in the World Cup,” USMNT manager Mauricio Pochettino had declared last week of his best player, and while Sunday wasn’t quite a World Cup game, it certainly boded well for that eventuality.
Pulisic, who had yet to score in the calendar year — and whose last goal with the U.S. men’s national team was all the way back in September 2024 — snapped his scoring drought after 20 minutes in a 3-2 USMNT victory over Senegal on Sunday.
His smooth finish past Mory Diaw marked the high point of what was an excellent 45-minute performance from Pulisic before he was subbed off at halftime along with nine other USMNT starters.
“It felt great,” Pulisic said. “I’ve felt this confidence, I’ve played really well in recent months, but all people seem to care about is goals. Hopefully now people can stop talking about it. Obviously, just a friendly. We’ve got big games ahead and I gotta be ready.”
Despite his exhortation that he played well, Pulisic not only failed to score, but was dropped from Milan’s starting lineup as the Rossonieri tumbled out of a Champions League position late in the season.
He cast a frustrated figure as recently as last weekend, when he came on as a substitute in the last game of the Serie A season.
Sunday, though, Pulisic was the best version of himself: decisive and dynamic on the ball, always a threat off it.
“The performance of Christian in 45 minutes was really, really good,” coach Mauricio Pochettino said. “I think he still has potential to improve but I think it’s the way he’s training from Day 1. … How he played 45 minutes was the habit that he created in the last week. Every day training with this attitude, with this commitment, with this energy.”
From the first moments of the game, when Gio Reyna couldn’t quite get on Pulisic’s cross into open space, the USMNT’s No. 10 was in command and control.
For a player who, for better or worse, tends toward streaky, this was an excellent sign with a career-defining World Cup ahead.
Senegal never looked like it had an answer for him.
Pulisic helped get the USMNT on the scoreboard inside of 10 minutes, feeding Sergiño Dest for the afternoon’s first goal, but what he needed — and what everyone around the USMNT wanted to see happen before the storyline overtook events — was a goal of his own.
That came soon after.
“You could see that I felt great,” Pulisic said. “I was excited, felt good to get that one. Just ready for a big summer ahead now.”
