Christian Pulisic Shines As USA Sink Bolivia In Copa America

Christian Pulisic scored one goal and set up another as the United States launched their Copa America campaign with a clinical 2-0 Group C victory over Bolivia on Sunday. US captain Pulisic curled in a superb early goal before teeing up a second for striker Folarin Balogun just before half-time at the AT&T Stadium in Arlington. That two-goal salvo was enough to secure a vital three points for US coach Gregg Berhalter's side, who also face in-form Uruguay and regional rivals Panama in the group stage.

"We came out flying with a lot of intensity," Pulisic said afterwards. "Obviously an early goal helped us a lot, but all around a pretty dominant performance. 

"We could have scored a few more to put it away, but all in all a really good start to the tournament. We should build some confidence from this; the games are going to get harder from here so we've got to be ready." 

Berhalter had warned his team against complacency against a Bolivia side who had won only one game in nine previous editions of the Copa America since 1999.

Pulisic was clearly in no mood to let the South Americans improve that record of futility, firing the hosts into the lead after only three minutes.

Receiving the ball from a corner on the left, the American captain darted towards the edge of the area and whipped a rasping shot goalwards.

Bolivia goalkeeper Guillermo Viscarra got a hand to it but could not stop the ball flying into the roof of the net.

Yet despite that early breakthrough, the US struggled to convert their dominance of possession into chances thereafter and were frustrated by a combative Bolivian team who saw three players booked in the first 31 minutes.

Leonel Justiniano, Gabriel Villamil and Luis Haquin were all shown yellow cards by