'Emotional' Christian Pulisic makes promise to USMNT fans after Copa America exit

United States Men's National Team (USMNT) captain Christian Pulisic believes the team is just reaching its potential despite the disappointing loss to Uruguay .

The AC Milan star was held in check by Uruguay's pressing defense and generally had a tough night on Monday, often finding himself on the ground after hard tackles and challenges. Although the USMNT tried its best to win the game, especially needing a win to advance in the Copa America , its effort was not enough in the 1-0 loss.

After the game, Pulisic spoke about the team and what to expect in the coming months. In particular, the 25-year-old made a promise to the fans that the team would perform better moving forward but the players had to examine this loss and determine what needs to be fixed.

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" It’s difficult to say right now, obviously the emotions are running high," Pulisic told FOX Sports of his thoughts on the game. "I mean we had a good start and brought a lot of energy but at the end of the day, just not enough quality. I felt like we gave it everything but just couldn’t find solutions to score."

Antonee Robinson, the 26-year-old defender of the United States, shared his thoughts on the loss, reflecting on the missed opportunities in the game. "I think just a lack of quality in the final third. I mean it felt like quite an even game," he said to FOX Sports. " They had their chances, we had ours and when it came to it they put theirs away and we didn't. It's really, really disappointing for us."

When asked about the officiating, which was a point of contention all night, Pulisic did not want to focus on that because there was "a lot" on his mind about how the referee, Kevin Ortega, called the match. "I don’t want to talk too much about the ref," the captain continued. "It does get frustrating but yeah, that’s what this tournament is about, so we just have to do our best to cope with it."

Robinson agreed with Pulisic that the officiating was frustrating, adding: " I mean obviously, expect it coming into the game, but you can't be prepared. I've never seen a ref give a yellow and play fast before he's written in the book. It's just little things like that that's just amateur hour. But you can't really blame the ref on the result. He definitely inhibited the flow of the game at times, but at the end of the day that results on us and we weren't good enough to get the result today."

Coming into the tournament, hopes were high for the United States to make a run, to prove that it was better than previous iterations of the squad. Instead, the team fell flat in the opening rounds and is now out of the tournament, which raises questions about what's next for it.

In particular, the main question will be what happens to head coach Gregg Berhalter . Since managing the USMNT, Berhalter has led the United States to more subpar finishes than impressive wins.

It was also reported that Berhalter was on a short leash, considering the talent on the squad. For now, with the team lacking a concrete direction for the future, Pulisic believes the team will have to find themselves again after a disappointing tournament.

" Now it’s just about getting a little bit of rest and regrouping and finding an identity again we have some big things ahead," Pulisic continued. " So looking forward to that."