Christian Pulisic thanks fans for World Cup support: ‘It really meant a lot to us’

AL RAYYAN, Qatar – The US Men’s National Soccer Team gave a good performance at this year’s FIFA World Cup in Qatar, and str striker Christian Politic appreciates the fan support.

“Thank you guys so much for all the support. It really meant a lot to us,” Pulisic said.

The USMNT went through the group stage of the World Cup undefeated, tying Wales (1-1) and England (0-0) and defeating Iran 2-0, and advancing to the round of 16, otherwise know as the knockout round.

The US lined up to face the Netherlands in the knockout round on December 2nd.

Although they put up a good fight, the Netherlands easily defeated the Americans 3-1 in the match.

“In the past three games, I’d say we defended the moments really, really well,” US captain Tyler Adams said. “And today the three goals come from moments where we’re probably sleeping a little bit.”

The American’s entire this year’s World Cup with the second youngest roster of all of the teams. Their play against the Dutch, though strong act times, showed that there is definitely room to grow.

It took until the 10th minute for the Dutch to make a real push into the Americans’ defensive third, but they did so on a beautiful passing sequence that saw Denzel Dumfries cut back a pass to the late-arriving Memphis Depay — who left behind Adams and was free in the box — for the opening goal.

Seconds before halftime, the Dutch scored off a throw-in on an similar sequence to the first. Dumfries, again, cut back a pass into the box and captain Daley Blind calmly finished.

The US got a chaotic, fluky goal back through Wright in the 71st minute, to which the Dutch also quickly answered in systemic fashion.

Politic was apologetic about the outcome.

“We’re sorry. We wanted it so bad, and I hope we gave you some kind of excitement and showed you what this country is about, what this team is about. Just thank you guys.”

Pulisic, who was injured against Iran as he scored the game-winning goal, was proud of the effort but disappointed by the result.

I’m really proud of this team, how far we’ve come,” Pulisic said. “I hope we’ve shown a lot of people what we can do. It really is a shame.

“We deserved more from this tournament. At the end of the day, we couldn’t get it done, but I think there’s a lot of things we can be proud of.”

The Netherlands will play Argentina in the quarterfinals.