Tim Howard condemns US captain Christian Pulisic over Trump dance celebration

Former Manchester United and USA goalkeeper Tim Howard has criticised US men’s national team captain Christian Pulisic after the forward broke out a dance mimicking Donald Trump.

Pulisic scored USA’s first goal in their Concacaf Nations League quarter-final second leg against Jamaica in St Louis, Missouri on Monday. It was the first goal of the game, with Pulisic’s side going on to clinch a 4-2 win.

After scoring, Pulisic broke into President-elect Donald Trump’s signature double-fist-pump dance – a bizarre two-fisted shimmy the Republican has so often executed at his campaign rallies. Pulisic’s teammates Weston McKennie and Ricardo Pepi also joined in.

Following the game, AC Milan’s Pulisic was asked to explain himself and denied that there was any political intent behind the gesture.

“Well obviously that’s the Trump dance,” he said. “It was just a dance that everyone’s doing. He’s the one who created it. I just thought it was funny. I saw everyone doing it yesterday in the NFL, I saw Jon Jones do it. We’re just having a bit of fun, so I thought it was a pretty fun dance.”

Pressed on whether his celebration should be interpreted as an implicit endorsement of Trump, Pulisic said: “No, not at all. It’s not a political dance. It was just for fun. I saw a bunch of people do it and I thought it was funny, so I enjoyed it. I hope some people did at least.”

Howard, America’s most capped goalkeeper with 121 appearances who retired in 2017, said Pulisic had every right to express himself but should “own” his support for Trump rather than dismissing it as “a bit of fun”.

“Here’s my personal view,” Howard wrote in his column on Mail Online. “Doing a dance that mimics Donald Trump is stupid. Why? Because, whether it’s the president of the United States or my neighbor down the street, I would never back someone who I believe is racist. I wouldn’t glorify that. I wouldn’t do it for anything.

“If someone feels strongly the other way, no problem. But if you’re going to make a political statement then be bold and brash enough to stand behind it. Don’t go quiet and don’t plead innocence like Christian Pulisic.”

The Trump dance took the NFL by storm last weekend, with Las Vegas Raiders tight end Brock Bowers, Tennessee Titans wide receivers Calvin Ridley and Nick Westbrook-Ikhine and Detroit Lions defensive duo Za’Darius Smith and Malcolm Rodriguez all getting in on the act.

Trump himself was back at New York’s Madison Square Garden on Saturday night to witness Jones, a UFC fighter, cheer his victory over Stipe Miocic by doing the same dance before passing his heavyweight title belt to the incoming commander-in-chief.

The 45th president, who recently secured a resounding win over Democrat Kamala Harris in this year’s presidential election to secure his return to the White House, frequently pulled the move at the end of his campaign events – shuffling stiffly on the spot while swinging his fists in front of him to anthemic pop tracks like The Village People’s disco classic YMCA.

Pulisic’s goal, meanwhile, helped the USMNT advance to the Nations League semi-finals next March after they had picked up a narrow 1-0 win over Jamaica in the first-leg in Kingston last week.

The captain not only scored the first himself but also forced the error that led to Di’Shon Bernard’s deflected own goal for the second, before Pepi and Timothy Weah completed the rout, cancelling out a second-half brace from Demarai Gray.