The USMNT enjoyed a great start to its 2024 Copa America campaign. Gregg Berhalter’s side managed to cruise past Group C rivals Bolivia with an easy 2-0 victory. But the talking point of the match remains a star player Christian Pulisic who achieved a significant milestone with his goal. However, many were left perplexed by the way he celebrated his goal. Well, to begin explaining it, that was his way of dedicating his historic strike to his nation’s underrated hero, Gianni Vio.

This surprising revelation was made by the AC Milan forward himself during the post-match interview with Michele Giannone. When asked who was he actually pointing to while celebrating his opening goal for the Stars and the Stripes, Pulisic took Vio’s name. He explained the reason behind it as well: “He’s [Vio] always telling me and encouraging me to shoot more, if you see a chance, take it, shoot”.

For those hearing this name for the first time, Gianni Vio is a set-piece coach of the US national team. The Italian manager works as a technical coach under Gregg Berhalter. However, soon after the 2024 Copa America campaign concludes, Vio is expected to fly back to England, where he will rejoin Watford’s technical team. Well, this is just a start as one would be impressed to see his CV.

The 71-year-old has worked for clubs like Tottenham Hotspur, SPAL, Cagliari Calcio, Leeds, Brentford, AC Milan, and Fiorentina. In his early days, he also worked for Triestina, US Palermo, and Catania. Being associated with such big teams even saw Vio work under many revered coaches like Antonio Conte, Dean Smith, Filippo Inzaghi, and Vincenzo Montella.

Indeed, Gianni Vio’s coaching experience will surely benefit the USMNT players. After all, it worked out for Pulisic, who achieved a significant milestone tonight.

Christian Pulsic shines for USMNT with a historic milestone!

Christian Pulisic opened the account for his side in just under three minutes, thanks to an assist from Timothy Weah. However, the AC Milan superstar’s strike has quite significance as he became the fastest USMNT player in history ever to score 30 goals. Notably, he achieved this feat in just 69 games. Even though the night belonged to him, the rest of the team also didn’t disappoint.

After a goal, Pulisic assisted Florian Balogun just before half-time. Interestingly, first-half goals were enough as the latter 45 minutes didn’t produce any goals. Likewise, Gregg Berhalter and Co. also enjoyed a 69% possession and got over 20 shots, out of 8 on target compared to Bolivia’s 6 out of 3 and 31% possession. Let’s hope it remains the same way for Christian Pulisic and the team.