Christian Pulisic has spoken out after he celebrated scoring for the USMNT by copying Donald Trump’s dance.

Pulisic opened the scoring after just 13 minutes in the US’ 4-2 win against Jamaica in the CONCACAF Nations League on Monday night. The action in Missouri saw Mauricio Pochettino’s side capitalize on their first leg 1-0 win in Kingston last week to win the quarter-final.

The captain latched onto the end of a clipped pass from Weston McKennie, beating Philadelphia Union goalkeeper Andre Blake to the ball and guiding a first-time effort into the far corner to give the hosts the lead. Pulisic wheeled away in celebration before mimicking Trump’s famous ‘Y.M.C.A’ dance moves.

Trump will become the 47th president of the USA when he returns to the Oval Office next year. He was re-elected after beating Democrat candidate Kamala Harris during a campaign in which he danced to the song by the Village People. The move has been copied by NFL players and UFC star Jon Jones after his UFC 309 win last weekend.

Despite celebrating in a fashion known as the ‘Trump Dance,’ the AC Milan winger insisted it wasn’t politically motivated. “I saw everyone doing it yesterday in the NFL, I saw Jon Jones do it, and we were just having a bit of fun,” Pulisic said as reported by Jeff Carlisle.

“I thought it was a pretty fun dance. Obviously, that’s the ‘Trump Dance’ but it was just a dance that everyone’s doing. He’s the one who created it, so I just thought it was fun,” Pulisic added. “It’s not a political dance. It was just for fun. I saw a bunch of people do it and thought it was funny, so I enjoyed it. I hope some people did.”

UFC world heavyweight champion Jones did the dance after beating Stipe Miocic to defend his title in Madison Square Garden. Trump was sat beside the Octagon during the fight and joined in the celebration with ‘Bones’ as he danced and pointed toward the President-elect. Jones later left the Octagon with the belt and gave it to Trump.

Donald Trump

Trump made the dance move iconic during his election campaign ( 

Image:

Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Las Vegas Raiders tight end Brock Bowers also did the dance after scoring a touchdown after catching a 23-yard pass from Gardner Minshew in the third quarter against the Miami Dolphins. Bowers took inspiration for his celebration as he stood and danced in the end zone.

Bowers also spoke of Jones’ influence the previous night for his celebration. “I’ve seen everyone do it. I watched the UFC fight … and Jon Jones did it. I like watching UFC so I saw it, and thought it was cool,” Bowers told USA Today.

San Francisco 49ers defensive end Nick Bosa, who was fined $11,255 by the NFL for wearing a ‘Make America Great Again’ cap during a post-game television interview, also did the dance while celebrating a sack during the 49ers victory over Tampa Bay.