By Joiner Martínez
Jun 22, 2024, 17:22 PM EDT
Christian Pulisic, captain of the United States soccer team, considered it necessary for his team to maintain in the Copa América the same intensity of play exhibited in the friendly prior to the tournament in which they tied 1-1 with Brazil.
“We have to realize that we have to bring that intensity all the time and not like we did in the game against Colombia,” Pulisic said in a video released by the press office of the USMNT, the American men’s team.
In the friendly against Colombia, the Stars and Stripes team was beaten 1-5 by the Tricolor.
For ‘Captain America’, the game against Bolivia cannot be approached differently than it was against Canarinha because the Green “will come out flying and ready to play.”
The Italian Milan forward considered that if they take the field on Sunday with less than one hundred percent intensity, the South American team could beat them.
“We have to bring that intensity and that physicality, play a really strong game and stick to our plan. And if we do that, we have a good chance,” he considered.
The attacker is committed to playing the Copa América “game by game”, without placing the bar for his team’s success in any specific phase.
“At the end of the day, you go into the tournament with the intention of winning it and that’s what we’re going to do,” he added.
He also maintained that for now he is not thinking about the 2026 World Cup, which his country will also host along with Canada and Mexico, as his focus is on the Copa América, a “big tournament” that will be another opportunity “to show the region and the world” that the United States is a team that can be feared.
The host team of the Copa América 2024 will debut in the tournament this Sunday against the Verde, of Brazilian Antonio Carlos Zago, at the AT&T Stadium, in Arlington, Texas.
The United States is in 11th place in the FIFA ranking and Bolivia is in 84th place.
Both teams are paired in group C of the tournament with Uruguay and Panama.
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