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Pulisic feeling the pain but future is bright for Americans

By Dominic King

THE American dream had failed to come true once again and Christian Pulisic could not contain his emotions, wrenching up his shirt and burying his face in it.

It had been the ambition of this high-energy and youthful United States squad to emulate — and, possibly, better — the class of 2002, who reached the last eight in Japan and South Korea. Had Pulisic kept his cool in the second minute, they might have done that, too.

Every second, every touch, every pass and every shot counts at a World Cup. One stutter, one hesitation and it all comes tumbling down, particularly when the pressure is as intense as it is in the ‘win or go home’ fixtures that follow the group stage. Pulisic, the enigmatic Chelsea forward, had a glorious opportunity to shape the narrative in the United States’ favour early on when he found himself onside and alone in the Netherlands penalty area. One clean strike and he would have given his team the lead.

He had been the hero of the hour against Iran, scoring the goal that enabled his team to qualify with England from Group B, but could not repeat the feat.

His shot bobbled up and Andries Noppert, Heerenveen’s goalkeeper, stuck out his left leg to save. It was a huge moment.

You could tell it was on his mind at the final whistle as he began to wince. Pulisic (right), whose season at Stamford Bridge has been pockmarked with inconsistency, opened up about it a couple of hours later. Being asked to revisit the scene of a trauma was, evidently, painful.

‘It hurts,’ sighed Pulisic. ‘I thought I was way offside when it happened. He made a good save so, of course, it is going to hurt for a while. We don’t want to feel like this again. Right now, it is tough.’

Even more descriptive was Arsenal goalkeeper Matt Turner, who said: ‘We did something that was not like us. The silence in the dressing room is deafening. The mood is sombre. Contesting a game of this nature and losing doesn’t make anyone feel any better.’

This, though, is not the end of the road for Gregg Berhalter’s squad and it will be fascinating to see how, when they are joint hosts in 2026, they have progressed as they are only a top striker away from being a fine side.

When they played England, Gareth Southgate’s squad were taken aback by how much running the USA did and how intense it was.

They have some excellent talents, such as the Leeds pair Brenden Aaronsen and Tyler Adams, to go with Pulisic and Gio Reyna of Borussia Dortmund.

A 3-1 defeat to the Netherlands brings this journey to a close, but you would not be in a hurry to dismiss them in four years.

Put it another way, when they last staged the World Cup in 1994, the United States won one of their four games. This squad will do better.

‘It is another experience for all these guys,’ said Pulisic. ‘We didn’t qualify for the last World Cup and here we are in the round of 16.

‘There’s for sure moments we can be really proud of. We don’t want to feel like this again and we want to put ourselves in a position to win tournaments like this.’

World Cup 2022

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2022-12-04T08:00:00.0000000Z

2022-12-04T08:00:00.0000000Z

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