The United States highly anticipated matchup with England is underway, and the first half of the match was a much closer affair than it was initially expected to be. The USMNT started out slowly, but eventually ended up controlling the proceedings for the most part. They nearly took a 1-0 lead thanks to Christian Pulisic, but his shot glanced off the post, leaving the score at 0-0.

The United States weren’t given much of a chance to win this game, let alone be competitive in the first place. But they looked very good throughout the first half, and as a result, Twitter was buzzing by the team’s strong play and Christian Pulisic hitting the post, which led to great reactions from fans across the world.

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It’s clear the excitement for this game is at an all-time high, and Christian Pulisic and the USMNT’s hot start only added to the excitement. There were many fans expecting England to destroy them considering how dominant they looked against Iran to open the tournament, but so far, the U.S. have looked to be pretty evenly matched with England.

Whether that will continue into the second half remains to be seen, but for now, the USMNT and their fans certainly have to feel good about their performance in the first half. Christian Pulisic’s strike very nearly put the Americans ahead, and there were several other chances that USA had that they very nearly capitalized on. If they are able to eventually win this game, it could go a long way in helping the USMNT move onto the Round of 16.