Playing its first game since World Cup qualifying, the United States Men’s National Team delivered a dominant performance Wednesday in Cincinnati, cruising to a 3-0 win over Morocco. At the center of it was Christian Pulisic, who set up the game’s first goal on a beautiful centering pass to Brenden Aaronson with 26 minutes gone by in the first half.
Unimpressed by the turnout at TQL Stadium, the 23-year-old later called out USMNT fans for not supporting their own.
“I’m not super happy with the amount of Americans here, if I’m being completely honest,” the Chelsea striker lamented after the game. “Thanks to the ones that did come. The support is always great from them.”
Clearly, the United States captain is frustrated fans aren’t rallying behind what could be one of the better USMNT teams we’ve seen in recent memory. Admittedly, that’s not a high bar to clear given their recent failures, barely qualifying for the upcoming Qatar World Cup after missing the tournament entirely in 2018.
While soccer’s popularity is thought to be on the rise—some would argue it’s already surpassed hockey and baseball as America’s third favorite sport behind football and basketball—fans continue to treat the USMNT as an afterthought, especially relative to their wildly successful female counterpart (led by Alex Morgan and Megan Rapinoe, the US women haven’t lost a World Cup game since 2011).
Whether the USMNT has earned a bigger following than the one they currently have is up for debate. Despite being the third-most populous country on earth, the United States has advanced to the World Cup knockout round just six times in its history. Meanwhile, the US has deliberately chosen smaller markets for its home games, eschewing New York and Los Angeles (both with huge immigrant and international presences) for venues in Columbus and Cincinnati, where fans of Mexico and other rival countries aren’t in danger of outnumbering Americans.
Perhaps Pulisic should have tempered his attendance expectations for an international friendly on a Wednesday night amid a busy sports schedule with a full slate of MLB games, hockey playoffs and wall-to-wall NBA Finals coverage on ESPN. Still, that doesn’t excuse fans for missing out on Pulisic, a generational talent well on his way to becoming the greatest player America has ever produced.
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