Will Christian Pulisic & USMNT ‘joke’ about harsh player ratings? Former United States international Taylor Twellman admits his generation saw funny side of individual scores

The United States are currently readying themselves for Copa America duty as a squad and nation, with that tournament set to play out across the U.S. from June 20. Gregg Berhalter is busy finalising his plans, with two warm-up games taken in.

A humbling 5-1 defeat to Colombia was suffered in the first of those, before responding positively in a 1-1 draw with Brazil. Pulisic, with the captain’s armband in place, found the net with a clever free-kick against the Selecao.

His performance did not impress everybody, with some harsh ratings being handed out, and Twellman has revealed that USMNT stars of the past used to enjoy reading through some occasionally baffling individual marks. He has posted on social media when highlighting Pulisic’s 6/10 score against Brazil: “I think I watched a different game where USMNT tied Brazil 1-1. I read them and thought it was for the Colombia game where they lost 5-1. We’d joke about these postgame as a player all the time with each other especially when the result was positive.”

Pulisic has sounded a “bring on Copa America” rallying cry as the USMNT count down the days to a tournament opener against Bolivia on June 23. They will be hoping to rank highly as a collective as sights are set on making the latter stages of a major international competition.