United States men’s national team star Christian Pulisic sent an impassioned message of thanks to fans of the team Saturday after the group was eliminated from the 2022 World Cup with a 3–1 loss to the Netherlands.
“Thank you guys so much for all the support. It really meant a lot to us,” a dejected Pulisic told Fox’s Jenny Taft after the round of 16 match. “We’re sorry. We really 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, 24, started his fourth straight game for the U.S. side despite concern about the pelvic contusion he suffered in Tuesday’s victory over Iran. Though he had a handful of opportunities–including a chance at goal in the third minute–the star winger couldn’t capitalize, which became an unfortunate theme of the day for the Americans.
Nevertheless, Pulisic expressed how proud he was of the USMNT’s performance, not only on Saturday but throughout the tournament.
“I’m really proud of this team, how far we’ve come. I hope we showed a lot of people what we can do,” he said. “It really is a shame. I thought we deserved more from this tournament and at the end of the day we didn’t get it done, but I think there’s a lot of things we can be proud of.”
The 2022 World Cup marked the first World Cup appearance for Pulisic, who was a part of the USMNT that missed out on soccer’s crown jewel as a member of the 2018 team. He’ll leave Qatar having directly contributed to two of the U.S.’s three goals, with an assist against Wales and a heroic goal against Iran.
Fans of the USMNT will hope that the performance is just the beginning for Pulisic in World Cup play. Though it will surely take time for the team to move on from this year’s tournament, the 24-year-old expressed his excitement about continuing with this group in the years to come.
“It excites me for sure,” Pulisic said of the future outlook for the USMNT. “It hurts a lot right now, we thought that we could’ve advanced and done a lot more this time around. But you know I love these guys, and it’s a really special group.”
