USMNT thump Bolivia 2-0 in Copa America opener; Pulisic & Balogun score

Captain Pulisic scores a screamer and sets up Balogun for the second.

Hosts USA kicked off their home Copa America 2024 campaign against Bolivia in an Group C affair at the AT&T Stadium.

Coming into this match, the USMNT were heavy favourites to win it, and they got off to a flyer when, in the 3rd minute, captain Christian Pulisic hit an absolute laser of a shot to give them a dream start in front of their fans.

The United States continued their front-foot approach, as they almost scored a quick-fire second when Juventus winger Timothy Weah forced a good save from Bolivian keeper Guillermo Viscarra.

Bolivia tried to curb the American pressure by putting in a few strong challenges to bring constant halts into play and slow down their opponent’s momentum. This approach led to a ceremony of Bolivian yellow cards on the books, but it proved to be successful as the United States looked neither progressive nor clean in possession.

With the half drawing to an end, the USMNT found a crucial second goal in the 44th minute when Pulisic found striker Folarin Balogun, who hit a clean left-foot finish across goalkeeper Guillermo Viscarra to give the hosts a comfortable 2-0 lead into the break.

The United States started the second half similarly and were almost rewarded when Balogun came close to scoring his second goal and the team’s third. With a goal and an assist already, Christian Pulisic was hungry for even more as he proved to be a constant threat down the left flank to the Bolivian setup.

Antônio Carlos Zago’s Bolivian team tried their best to get a foothold on the game, either through tactical adjustments or attacking substitutions. Still, they just could not offer anything meaningful going forward throughout the match.

With a dominating team display, Gregg Berhalter’s USMNT secured a deserving 2-0 opening game win against hapless Bolivia to claim all three points and sit on top of Group C for now.

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