Christian Pulisic wasted little time in opening his goalscoring account for the 2025-26 season.
Pulisic scored AC Milan’s second goal of the new campaign as the Rossoneri defeated Bari 2-0 in Coppa Italia play on Sunday. The U.S. men’s national team forward played 66 minutes in the match, helping Massimiliano Allegri celebrate a victory in his first match as manager.
Rafael Leao opened the scoring for the Rossoneri after 14 minutes, giving AC Milan a 1-0 advantage that it would take into halftime.
Pulisic added to the lead three minutes into the second half, finishing off a 1-2 with Santiago Gimenez into the bottom-right corner. The 26-year-old played a pass out wide before Gimenez’s return pass was gathered by Pulisic and drilled after a nice turn from point-blank range.
It was Pulisic’s 33rd-career goal for AC Milan in all competitions.
Pulisic was substituted off in the 66th minute, being replaced by fellow USMNT teammate, Yunus Musah. Musah would play the final 20+ minutes as AC Milan closed out a shutout victory at the San Siro.
AC Milan will next face Lecce in the second round of the competition on September 24, but first will open Serie A play on Saturday against Cremonese.
2tone, MWR,
CP looked great but Bari are garbage.
Everyone on the USMNT is a very skilled player. You don’t get to where they are without it. They may not be attractively or obviously skilled but they are. What separates CP from the rest of his USMNT partners at this level is his goal production. HIs absence from the team makes creating and scoring goals seem much harder. Eventually they will get over it.
Makalele was an all time great #6. He defined a particular style of play for the #6 and the USMNT have never had anyone anywhere near him,
From Zidane :
“Why put another layer of gold on the Bentley when you’re losing the entire engine?”. Zidane’s thought Real Madrid were making a mistake by letting Claude go to Chelsea.
CP looks as good or better than ever. Musah looked healthy and sharp too when he came on, played wide right with Modric playing central. Milan already had the game won, so Musah was mostly playing safe, maintaining possession. But a good sign he will get minutes this year.
Yunus has always been a “confidence player”. I hope Allegri is finally the guy who can unlock all that potential.
I think he sees him as potentially Weston Jr.
He looks like he had one of those growth spurt summers. He suddenly has a neck. Maybe he should recommend his “trainer” to Aaronson.
Haha I was thinking the same thing. Finally looking stronger
To be honest he could have had a hat trick. He looked sharp and healthy.
But, should we be concerned that he didn’t get a hat trick in the first half? He’s got to start hitting the corners, or Euro coaches are always going to be looking for the next Portugese or Slovenian guy to take his place.
Had this thought over the weekend – other than Pulsic – does the USMNT have any skill players? Are we just a bunch of Makeleles. . . and no Zindanes?
2tone, MWR,
CP looked great but Bari are garbage.
Everyone on the USMNT is a very skilled player. You don’t get to where they are without it. They may not be attractively or obviously skilled but they are. What separates CP from the rest of his USMNT partners at this level is his goal production. HIs absence from the team makes creating and scoring goals seem much harder. Eventually they will get over it.
Makalele was an all time great #6. He defined a particular style of play for the #6 and the USMNT have never had anyone anywhere near him,
From Zidane :
“Why put another layer of gold on the Bentley when you’re losing the entire engine?”. Zidane’s thought Real Madrid were making a mistake by letting Claude go to Chelsea.
MidWest Ref – To your point…It’s an interesting question and discussion about skill players. I guess you’d have to define what ‘skill guy” means to you to really be able to discuss it though. But in my opinion of what a skill player would be – I’d say McKennie is in that range and perhaps also Tillman – I think this season at Leverkusen will determine the truth of that. Of course Dest is would be on that list too. When Gio Reyna was soccer player I’d say that’s all he was – skill. He’s never been beating anyone with pace or strength or pure hustle. If he succeeds it will be due to his skill. Our ideal Musah could also be on this list.
Vacqui – you once again come through with your microaggressions insinuating you think a commenter is stupid and shut down what could be a nice conversation. It kind of makes you seem the stupid one for not being able to a) comprehend the jist of of the post or b) not being able to ask a question to clarify. There are no new soccer fans commenting on this site. 99% of us have been here for years and are soccer dorks or else we wouldn’t be here. To state things like Bari are garbage compared to AC Milan is literally a lazy take and, dare I say, stating the obvious (however it could be argued that a Serie B side that was recently in Serie A are not garbage and put together with your other statement about USMNT players all being skilled while some play in Serie B level leagues could bring another argument in Bari’s favor for not being “trash”…but I digress). You post brings nothing to the conversation when considering the audience you are addressing. We all know the disparity between the clubs. Should we not comment positively on any games where the opponents have a wide gap between them? Dude, buzz kill. Every USMNT player is very skilled….in the context of this site and post is like commenting on a goal and saying the defense was poor. Really?? No sh!t. Again super lazy and obvious from someone who holds themselves as Mansplainer-in-Chief of SBI. Now…tell me a guy like Dest isn’t more skilled than Scally you pompous jerk. You literally take the fun out of this site. That is also obvious.
MotO,
Many of the posters on SBI are indeed very knowledgeable.
In which case they ignore what I write and read someone else’s stuff.
Why would they let what I write ruin their day?
Most of what I write is just a reminder that you can look most of this stuff up yourself if you are so moved. If the USMNT has a win that I find enjoyable do you really think I let what I read on SBI bring me down? Are you kidding me?
But who knows how many on SBI are new to the game and not a geniuses like all the usual suspects? Should I tell them that Gio is certainly coming back and will be bossing our midfield and Cole Campbell will be slicing up foreign defenses?
Maybe they don’t realize that Milan warming up with Bari is like Ohio State putting Disco Tech early on the schedule. Creampuffs.
Dest is not “more skilled” than Scally.
He has different skills. Both are quite valuable but it is not always possible to play your best players at the same time.
Joe has been a regular performer for some time now at BMG in the BL which I need not remind you plays at a higher level on a daily basis than PSV. PSV play a lot of teams as weak as Bari.
“Should we not comment positively on any games where the opponents have a wide gap between them?”
The USMNT plays a lot of games like that because they play a lot of creampuffs in CONCACAF. And the tough teams they only play them in friendlies. That gets you Ferreira’s 5, 6 or however many goals vs Grenada.
That may be one reason why so many of the American public who are not as experienced as you have such unrealistic expectations of the USMNT.
This edition of the USMNT has every shot at going three and out at the WC. That’s what I expect to happen.
We can score on any team in the World. We can also give up goals to any team in the World.
But they also have the potential , with a little luck, to make some serious noise and maybe even make the semis or farther. That would not surprise me either.
The teams that do well in the World Cup? They do so because everything goes right for them. And by everything I mean the coach, the players , the draw, the injuries( for and against),the cards, etc., etc. etc. In other words at this point there is no reason to be concerned one way or the other about the USMNT. It is way too early.
This fall they it looks like they have an impressive lineup of friendlies. Coupled with the situation, it should make for a fascinating set of games.