USMNT's Christian Pulisic embraces leadership role at Copa America: Why it's perfect timing for USA

The 25-year-old is off to a perfect start at Copa America

Against Bolivia on Sunday, the United States men's national team debuted a new captain at a major tournament in Christian Pulisic. The 25-year-old takes the responsibility from Tyler Adams who was the captain at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar and responded with a strong performance in a 2-0 victory. It only took three minutes for him to find the back of the net in Dallas with a curling effort as he takes charge of the leadership role, especially with Adams having dealt with injuries over the last season and a half.

But the goal isn't the only place where Pulisic took on a leadership role on the pitch. He was jawing at the referees when Bolivia were trying to slow the game down and went to console Ricardo Pepi when the young striker missed a chance near the end of the game. These are moments that show growth from Pulisic which manager Gregg Berhalter acknowledged. 

"He's a selfless leader. He goes out and competes and works, works really hard and that helps the team and then you add to the fact that he's highly skilled and can make plays on the offensive end and create chances on the offensive end," Berhalter said about Pulisic's performance. "It's a great combination, and what you see is him supporting his teammates, him backing guys, him pushing guys. To me, it was an outstanding performance tonight. He got coach's man of the match and it was much deserved."