Christian Pulisic only needed 12 minutes against New Zealand to etch his name in the USMNT’s history books. After a poor performance against Canada just three days prior, the U.S. men’s national team was in desperate need of a bounce back when the Stars and Stripes squared off with New Zealand at TQL Stadium. Interim head coach, Mikey Varas made six changes to his starting XI, including giving his captain, who played 90 minutes against the Reds, some rest. Without Pulisic on the pitch, though, the USMNT struggled to find the quality in the final third to get on the scoresheet. Ricardo Pepi thought he bagged the game’s opening goal, but it was soon controversially disallowed for a foul in the play’s build-up. Deadlocked at 0–0, Varas made his second substitution of the night and brought Pulisic on for Haji Wright in the 57th minute. The 25-year-old would go on to link up with Folarin Balogun and bury a left-footed strike into the far right corner of the net to put his side up 1–0.
The goal was not enough to win the game for the USMNT, who gave up an equalizer in the 89th minute, but it did break Pulisic’s tie with Brian McBride on the USA’s all-time scoring list.
Pulisic is now the USMNT’S fifth all-time leading scorer with 31 goals in 73 appearances. The American is behind only Clint Dempsey, Landon Donovan, Jozy Altidore and Eric Wynalda. The AC Milan man only needs four more goals to overtake Wynalda, something that is more than achievable with the arrival of Mauricio Pochettino. The former Tottenham Hotspur, Paris Saint-Germain and Chelsea manager is bringing his club expertise to the United States ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup, and Pulisic is already talking about building a winning culture with the new coach. Pulisic will next represent the United States on Oct. 12, as the USMNT takes on Panama in Pochettino’s debut match.
