Christian Pulisic led the USMNT to a commanding 2-0 victory over Bolivia in their Copa América opener on Sunday night, scoring early and assisting on Folarin Balogun’s goal.
Facing an inexperienced Bolivian side with ten starters having ten caps or fewer, the US swiftly demonstrated their superiority. “We came out flying with a lot of intensity. Obviously, that early goal helped us a lot,” Pulisic commented. “All around, a pretty dominant performance. I think we could have put it away and had more goals there.”
Pulisic opened the scoring in the third minute, the fastest American goal in 34 competitive matches against South American teams. A short corner from Timothy Weah returned to Pulisic, who curled a right-foot shot from just inside the area, grazing goalkeeper Guillermo Viscarra’s fingertips and finding the far upper corner. This marked Pulisic’s 30th international goal.
Balogun doubled the lead in the 44th minute, receiving a pass from Pulisic and threading a low, left-footed shot past defender Jesús Sagredo and into Viscarra’s far post. This was Balogun’s fourth goal in 13 national team appearances. Pulisic joined Clint Dempsey as the only US players with both a goal and an assist in a Copa América match.
Although Balogun found the net again in the 53rd minute, the goal was disallowed after a VAR review confirmed Timothy Weah was offside in the buildup.
Midfielder Tyler Adams made his first start since March, playing the first half as he regains fitness from back injury. Adams and Balogun replaced Yunus Musah and Ricardo Pepi in the starting lineup. Musah substituted Adams at halftime, and Pepi entered in the 65th minute, later having several attempts saved by Viscarra.
The US dominated with 18 touches inside the attacking penalty area in the first half, while Bolivia had none. Despite numerous chances, the US couldn’t extend their lead. “It’s a start that’s massive for us. Build the confidence,” said Antonee Robinson. “If we were being picky, we could have been a lot more clinical. We could have put another two, three goals away.”
Bolivia’s loss marks their 13th consecutive Copa América defeat since 2015, with only one win in their last 31 games. The match drew a crowd of 47,873 under the retractable roof of the 80,000-seat AT&T Stadium, set to host a World Cup semi-final in 2026.
The US will next face Panama on Thursday in Atlanta, followed by Uruguay on July 1 in Kansas City. Bolivia will play Uruguay on Thursday in New Jersey and Panama on July 1 in Florida.
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