Ahead of the United States Men’s National Soccer Team’s World Cup match against Australia on Friday, a team spokesperson has provided a promising injury update on Christian Pulisic.
According to the Associated Press’ Greg Beacham, the team spokesman labeled Pulisic as day to day as he continues to deal with a calf injury.
Pulisic will once again do “modified training” during the team’s practice on Tuesday and the hope continues to be he’ll be ready to go by Friday. The day to day label suggests he has at least a decent chance.
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“Christian Pulisic will do ‘modified training’ on his own during USMNT practice again today as he rehabs his calf injury. Team spokesman says Pulisic is ‘day to day’ for Friday vs Australia,” Beacham reported.
Pulisic suffered a left calf injury during the USMNT’s match against Paraguay that ended with a 4-1 victory for the United States.
Christian Pulisic’s impact vs. Paraguay
As if we needed another reminder of just how special Christian Pulisic is, the USMNT star had a hand in two of the team’s goals during the 4-1 win over Paraguay.
Pulisic split two defenders to help set up an own goal from Paraguay’s Damian Bobadilla in the seventh minute of the match, and then Pulisic notched an assist on a goal from Folarin Balogun in the 31st minute to give USMNT a 2-0 lead.
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The USMNT pulled Pulisic at halftime and after the match he told reporters of his injury.
“I just got a bit of a kick in the first half, so I’m really hoping that it’s nothing. Taking a little bit of precaution today, but I’m hoping I’ll be fine the next few days,” Pulisic said to FOX Sports.
Should USMNT sit Christian Pulisic vs. Australia?
The popular belief among fans is that the USMNT should sit Pulisic for the upcoming match against Australia out of caution.
The thought process is the USMNT can win that match without its best player, thus there is no sense in risking further injury, especially with the USMNT sitting comfortably atop Group D.
But, as we saw with Cape Verde and Spain, anything can happen in the World Cup and nothing should be taken for granted, so Pulisic should play if he’s 100% healthy.
However, if there is any lingering effect from his calf issue as of Friday, Pulisic should not step foot on the pitch.
