IRVINE, Calif. – U.S. men’s national team star Christian Pulisic said he expects to be available for Thursday’s group stage finale against Turkiye on Thursday, returning to fitness shortly before the World Cup knockout stages begin.
Pulisic came off at halftime of the USMNT’s 4-1 win over Paraguay on June 12 with a short-term issue in his left calf, one that started with a knock he picked up in the days building up to the game and then was aggravated when he received a kick to the same place during the first half. He then missed out on a week’s worth of training and ultimately did not play in Friday’s 2-0 win over Australia.
He did resume training with his teammates on Monday, though, and declared himself ready to go for their final matchup in Group D.
“I’m feeling good,” Pulisic said Wednesday. “I joined the team the last couple days and I’m hoping to play a part in tomorrow, for sure.”
He does not expect to play the full match, both through the regular routines players usually undergo after dealing with an injury, but also because the stakes are definitely different on Thursday. The USMNT have already topped the group and Turkiye have already been mathematically eliminated, the meeting at SoFi Stadium essentially a dead rubber game.
“I’ll discuss that with my coaches and the medical staff,” he said about a potential minutes restriction. “Obviously, not a good chance I’ll probably go and play 90 right away, normally, after you come back and miss a game, but we’ll see.”
The injury was originally described as precautionary, and the USMNT never feared for the worst, even as Pulisic missed several training sessions.
“I felt pretty confident,” he said. “Honestly, I never feared anything worse. I was pushing, and I was really close to trying to be available for the last game, for sure, but I obviously did feel a little something, but I definitely was able to push through in the first half with the adrenaline [to] just get me through, but it wasn’t quite ready but it wasn’t anything where I feared anything worse than really what it was.”
It helped that he was in modified training sessions rather than skipping practice altogether.
“I haven’t been off,” Pulisic said. “I’ve been working every single day, a lot. I don’t think that’s enough time to lose sharpness. I’ve been touching the ball every day and whatnot. I’m working a lot, so get a couple training sessions in, I’ll feel ready.”
The time away from the pitch, though, offered him a unique vantage point for the USMNT’s win over Australia, the vibes feeling like they were at an all-time high as the team battled past a physical opponent without their most recognizable player.
“It’s not surprising to me,” he said of the performance on Friday. “I see what the team can do. We have depth. We have really strong players in a lot of positions. I don’t need to do everything. It’s such a strong team, so like these guys, everyone has the challenge back. That’s what’s so fun about it, and just to see the team performance that we put in, especially how we’ve started the game, it’s been fun to watch.”
Pulisic’s minutes will likely be only one of several considerations head coach Mauricio Pochettino will make before locking in his team selections on Thursday. Considering the relatively low stakes, Pochettino could rotate out players through fitness or with yellow cards in mind – Tyler Adams, Folarin Balogun, Chris Richards and Antonee Robinson each picked one up in the first two games and another against Turkiye would mean they would be suspended for the U.S. team’s round of 32 game on July 1. A rotated team seems likely on Thursday but one that will still be expected to notch a third win in three at the World Cup.
Pochettino should have most of his team available to him, though midfielder Cristian Roldan did miss a third straight day of training with a muscle strain that is still being described as day-to-day.
“I think everyone in this team is ready to step up so I feel like it would just be a normal thing for us,” Pulisic said about the prospect of other players earning their first minutes at this World Cup. “We’re going to support and push everyone the same way, whoever gets the opportunity tomorrow to play, whatever the decisions may be. Everyone’s going to be ready and it just shows how much more depth and what a strong team that we have.”
Pulisic’s return could not come at a better time, though, the job of making a deep run on home soil no longer a task for the future.
“Honestly, I just always believed that anything’s possible,” he said. “I don’t feel like we necessarily need some miracle to go far in a World Cup. I think we have a really good team. I think we can do it. Things have to go your way and just like [it does] for everyone. I just always feel like believing is better than not.”
