Christian Pulisic has said the United States men’s national team is out to win this summer’s Copa América.
The AC Milan winger was asked in an interview with The Athletic what he would consider to be a successful campaign for the USMNT at the tournament, especially given the fact that it reached the semifinals the last time the U.S. hosted the competition in 2016.
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“There’s no measure to say exactly, ‘If we get this far, that’s success’,” Pulisic said.
“We’re going in with the mentality [of] taking it game by game and, of course, the goal is to win the tournament — always when you go into a tournament — so that’s how we look at things.”
The 25-year-old added that he and his teammates want to demonstrate what they are capable of on a big stage.
“We have a good young team and this is a great opportunity for us to play against the world’s best and hopefully show the world what we can do.”
In the same interview, Pulisic said he is thinking about finishing his career in Major League Soccer after the boom created by Lionel Messi moving to the league.
“Obviously, I’m not an old player,” he said. “I hopefully have some great years in Europe ahead of me. I’m loving my time here, so of course MLS is not in my head at the moment.
“But, yeah. At the end of my career? Absolutely. I will say it’s come a long, long way from when I first started even… almost, what, 10 years [ago] when I moved to Europe.
“Where the game has come in the U.S. from then, even MLS to where it is now, I’ve seen a massive change just as far as the support in the U.S.; you know, getting behind the national team and even the clubs now seeing Messi in Miami, things like that.
“There’s just so much buzz around the sport and I think it’s only going to get better in the next few years.”
