USA Cruise Past Bolivia to Open Copa América Campaign
The United States men’s national team opened up their 2024 Copa América campaign with a 2-0 victory over Bolivia. First-half goals from Christian Pulisic and Folarian Balogun were enough to get the USA over the line against a Bolivia side that only mustered five shots in 90 minutes. The United States dominated from start to finish, totaling 20 shots with eight on goal and having more than 60 percent of the ball. Head coach Gregg Berhalter fielded a strong lineup featuring the likes of the aforementioned Pulisic and Balogun as well as Timothy Weah, Weston McKennie, Tyler Adams, and Giovanni Reyna. The defense, consisting of Matt Turner, Chris Richards, Tim Ream, and Antonee Robinson kept Bolivia quiet to earn the USA’s third-ever win against the 85th FIFA-ranked team.
Pulisic wasted no time getting the action started, scoring a right-footed thunder strike off a corner kick. Weah played it short to Pulisic, who scored what could already be a contender for the goal of the tournament. The United States searched for the second goal, creating several chances and threatening Bolivia’s backline. The second goal did eventually come right before halftime, with Balogun slotting the ball in the bottom right corner of the pass from Pulisic.
The second half came and went, with USA seeing out the win and handing Bolivia their 13th straight Copa América match. Turner had three saves to earn his 25th-ever international clean sheet. After the game, Berhalter spoke on how the United States was able to cruise to victory. “I think the biggest thing was there wasn’t any doubts, the early goal really took a lot of pressure off, and then we knew they were going to be high-pressing, we knew they were going to be aggressive, and it was actually to play beyond their press. Try to put long balls behind their backline, try to contest some balls high on their end, and then try to play for the second ball so attack from there,” Berhalter said. The United States is expected to advance to the Round of 16 but will have a significant challenge against Uruguay in order to finish top of its group. Up next for the United States, is a Thursday night game against Panama in Georiga. Panama has only defeated the United States once, a 1-0 win in the third round of the 2022 World Cup qualifiers.
