SEATTLE – U.S. men’s national team head coach Mauricio Pochettino said he will meet the medical staff on Thursday before he decides whether or not Christian Pulisic can play in Friday’s World Cup group stage against Australia, a cloud of uncertainty continuing to loom over the tournament co-hosts as their star deals with a calf issue.
Pulisic started the USMNT’s 4-1 win over Paraguay last week, but after a strong performance, he came off at halftime with a calf issue. The forward suffered a knock in his left calf and then was kicked in the same place during the game, Pochettino pulling him at halftime as a precautionary measure. Pulisic, though, has trained individually all week. He has been spotted in the gym and doing some work on the ball, but with other members of the team’s technical staff rather than with his teammates. On both Wednesday and Thursday, he was spotted wearing a sleeve over his left calf.
“Tonight – the day before the game – we have a meeting with our medical area and we will assess the whole group, the players and tomorrow we will communicate on the things that we cannot agree [on] tonight,” Pochettino said on Thursday. “He’s involv[ed], he’s much better from Friday. We’ll see.”
Different members of the USMNT have insisted that Pulisic’s injury is not a long-term one over the course of the last week, Pochettino no different in his pre-match remarks.
“I think at the moment if he is not available for tomorrow, he will be available for the next game, but he’s doing a massive effort to be ready,” he said. “I think for every single player that loves [their] country, it’s an amazing opportunity to enjoy, to help the team, to perform and to win games. When this type of thing happens, always it’s painful, but Christian is strong and [has] a great mentality and is doing a fantastic effort to try to be ready as soon as possible.”
The other 25 members of the World Cup team, though, are expected to be available for selection.
“The good thing [is] that after three, four weeks working together, only we have one doubt for tomorrow,” Pochettino said.
The coach did not offer hints on who might play in Pulisic’s place if the forward is not available to start against Australia, but he did admit he was weighing his options.
“At the moment, we are evaluating all the possibilities just in case, and then we will decide when we have the confirmation in one or another direction tonight,” he said.
Pulisic’s teammates have spent the last week hoping he would be available for Friday’s game against Australia, a crucial Group D matchup that will help decide who tops the group in a week’s time, noting the effort the attacker has put in to be fit for the match.
“As far as recovery, I don’t really know, to be fair,” midfielder Weston McKennie said earlier on Thursday. “‘m more just the energy guy, either way just trying to just give good spirits and hopefully he can be in tomorrow. I know he really wants to be in and he’s doing everything that he can and the staff is everything that they can. That’s another question that’s probably better to ask [Pochettino] rather than be. I’m in my own la la land.”
The star, though, appears to be in good spirits despite the prospect of missing out on an important game as the U.S. team targets a statement-making run this summer.
“Mentally, he’s great,” McKennie said. “He’s being able to play in a World Cup and he’s here on home soil, family is out here. I think we’re not staying at a bad hotel, to wake up and see the beach so it’s really hard for someone’s mental game to be messed up in these types of conditions and U.S. Soccer and all the guys are around, we’re like a big family so we’re always there to pick someone up if they’re down and to excel them even further if they’re not so I think he’s doing good mentally.”
