How Christian Pulisic's powerful message set the tone for the USMNT at the World Cup

· Yahoo Sports

The United States Men's National Team entered the 2026 World Cup with high expectations, stemming in part from its status as one of the host countries. However, those expectations became far more real after the team's impressive 4-1 debut victory over Paraguay, and a 2-0 follow-up win over Australia, which secured their outlook as the winners of Group D.

While the USMNT got off to a red-hot start, the team unsurprisingly had plenty of nerves ahead of its World Cup opener against Paraguay, which is where Christian Pulisic came into play. As Alex Freeman, who scored for the USMNT against Australia, explained, Pulisic had a message for the team as nerves were high ahead of their opener vs. Paraguay.

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As Freeman explained, the team knew it had to come out and strike first, which prompted Pulisic to address the nerves with one simple piece of advice.

"We're all nervous, right? Get through the first five minutes," Pulisic said.

Freeman explained how Pulisic's comment resonated with the team and drove home the fact that they were all in this together. Fortunately, the USMNT not only made it through those first five minutes but also came out very shortly after (in the seventh minute) with a 1-0 lead over Paraguay in the opener.

It's safe to say that Pulisic's message was what his teammates needed to hear, and they've continued their impressive World Cup start since.

This article originally appeared on For The Win: Christian Pulisic's message sets tone for USMNT at World Cup

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