Christian Pulisic gave USA fans an injury scare on Monday after he trained away from his teammates ahead of Friday’s World Cup clash against Australia. But his coach and teammates are confident he will be fine for Friday’s game in Seattle.
Pulisic was sensational as the US kicked off this home World Cup with a dominant 4-1 win over Paraguay at SoFi Stadium.
But the winger was taken off at halftime after receiving a kick to the back of his left leg. He was struggling to walk, having taken a knock to a similar area in training a couple of days earlier.
Pulisic said after the game that he hopes the injury is ‘nothing’ but he was put on a ‘modified’ and individual training program on Monday.
In the USA’s first open training session since beating Paraguay, Pulisic spent time in the gym and on a separate training pitch from the rest of Pochettino’s squad.
‘Christian will be ready,’ midfielder Tyler Adams said before Monday’s session. ‘Everyone, let’s relax.’
Christian Pulisic trained alone ahead of Friday’s World Cup clash against Australia
The rest of Mauricio Pochettino’s squad returned to training in Irvine, California, on Monday
Pulisic was sensational as the US kicked off this home World Cup with a 4-1 win over Paraguay
The USA took a huge step towards the knockout stages with victory over Paraguay. Pochettino’s team is level with Australia on three points after the Socceroos upset Turkey in their World Cup opener.
That means Friday’s game at Lumen Field could have a huge say over which team tops Group D and opens up a more favorable path in the knockout rounds.
Pulisic had a hand in two of the USA’s three first-half goals before coming off against Paraguay.
The 27-year-old, who is the face of this team, combined with Weston McKennie for the own goal that set the USMNT on its way. He then crossed for the first of Folarin Balogun’s two goals.
Pulisic appears to be the US’ only injury concern heading into Friday’s game, though midfielder Sebastian Berhalter was left in a heap after a collision with goalkeeper Matt Freese in training on Monday.
After around 30 seconds on the floor, however, Berhalter climbed back to his feet and rejoined his teammates, apparently uninhibited.
