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Christian Pulisic was critical of the number of United States men’s national soccer team supporters at Cincinnati’s TQL Stadium during a 3-0 victory over Morocco on Wednesday night in the first of four World Cup warm-up matches in June.
According to U.S. Soccer, 19,512 supporters attended the match at a ground which has a capacity of 26,000 for soccer matches.
“For whatever reason, I’m not super happy with the amount of Americans here, however that works out, if I’m being completely honest,” Pulisic said after the match, referring to the number of home fans. “But thanks to the ones who did come, and the support is always great from them.”
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The Chelsea forward added: “I mean, it was a great win; we’re really happy. We started really well, got that early goal and yeah, just a really strong performance. But yeah, it’s nice to be back in America and playing again.”
Brenden Aaronson and Timothy Weah scored midway through the first half, and Haji Wright converted a second-half penalty kick in his senior national team debut. Pulisic, who normally takes spot kicks for the U.S., gave the ball to Wright, and his former U17 World Cup teammate repaid the faith with a goal.
“Yeah, I mean, Haji and me go way back,” Pulisic said. “I think he needed that goal. He said he was confident to step up and take it, and I wanted him to get that confidence, and I’m glad he scored.”
The 15th-ranked Americans, using a roster at about 75% of full strength, won for the first time in four matches with No. 24 Morocco, which also is preparing for the November start to the World Cup tournament in Qatar.
Wearing rainbow numbers on white jerseys for LGBTQ Pride Month, the U.S. extended its home unbeaten streak to 24 matches since a September 2019 loss to Mexico, two shy of the team record.
In Qatar, the U.S. will face off against England, Iran and the winner of Sunday’s UEFA World Cup playoff between Wales and Ukraine in Group B play.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this story.