'Captain America' Pulisic opens up about worm celebration after hat-trick against Panama

Christian Pulisic scored a sensational hat-trick as the United States' men's national team thrashed Panama 5-1 to all-but guarantee their spot at the Qatar World Cup 2022.

The Chelsea star scored a pair of first-half penalties before completing his treble with a virtuoso goal in the second half to leave the US with one foot in this year's FIFA World Cup.

Jesus Ferreira and Paul Arriola scored the other goals for the US in a victory that sparked massive celebration in Orlando's Exploria Stadium.

The win means the United States need only avoid a catastrophically heavy defeat in their final game against Costa Rica on Wednesday to qualify automatically.

The US have 25 points from 13 matches, while Costa Rica is three points behind following their win over El Salvador earlier Sunday.

With the US possessing a vastly superior goal difference, Costa Rica would need to win by six goals to snatch one of the three automatic qualifying berths on offer for teams from Central America, North America and the Caribbean.

The 23-year-old winger's hat-trick was a key part of Sunday's win, and his decision to do the Worm after scoring his second goal proved to be a talking point after the match.

After the match, Pulisic explained that the Worm celebration was to honour a USMNT fan, Mason Ogle, who the team had met before Sunday's clash.

Ogle, who has been diagnosed with a type of bone cancer called osteosarcoma, was recognised as the USMNT's matchday ambassador on Sunday as the 15-year-old, who, despite chemotherapy and a prosthetic knee, has continued to play with his high school soccer team.

Ogle met with the team at training ahead of the match and made a small request of Pulisic.

"I met someone really special yesterday. His name was Mason, and his one request was that if I scored, he wanted to see a worm celebration. That's what that was for," Pulisic revealed after the match.

"I had no idea that was gonna happen. When it happened, I was surprised but excited. I think, when you score goals, the best thing is the celebration, and he did the Worm celebration, so I'll rate it like a solid eight. Can't give him a ten because he didn't go back down," USMNT forward Jesus Ferreira said after the game.

Winger Paul Arriola added, "I probably give him a five just for flexibility. I felt like he could have been a little more flexible in his Worm, but I mean, I can't do that. So who am I to judge?"

Meanwhile, US coach Gregg Berhalter also hailed Pulisic's effort and said, "He's part of the team's leadership council, so it's normal for him. Christian's a guy who has been through it before and knows what we need and responded with a good."

Five years ago, a teenage Pulisic had been left in tears after Trinidad and Tobago beat the USA in their final game to miss out on qualification. However, on Sunday, the US captain left the field to a standing ovation as he was substituted in the 71st minute after scoring the goals that virtually guarantee a World Cup berth.

Following this emphatic victory, fans of Pulisic hailed their 'Captain America' and took to Twitter to celebrate Sunday's rout that exorcised the ghost of the USA's failure to qualify for the 2018 World Cup in Russia. Here's a look at some of the reactions: