'When he plays like that, it’s tough to beat us.': Christian Pulisic's blazing start has USMNT believing originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
Equipped with a telescope or perhaps one of those drones U.S. Soccer was flying overhead, one might have been able to get a decent look at Christian Pulisic this week as he trained individually in advance of Friday’s second game at the 2026 World Cup.
A kick in the calf during his brilliant first-half performance against Paraguay in the opening game last week led him to exit at halftime, and it has impacted his work in preparation for the second Group D game, against Australia. As witnessed by reporters at Great Park in Irvine, Calif., Monday, the United States men’s national team’s practice amounted to: They’re over here, he’s way over there.
This was true a third consecutive day Wednesday. It is not a small matter, but his teammates insist it’s not a big deal. Some of them have been around Pulisic more than a decade, from youth national teams to multiple World Cups. They understand why people care, but they’ve known him too well for too long to expect him to be absent from such a big game.
Could the USMNT get by without him for a night? Well, getting by is not the idea. What they want is to continue the standard from the 4-1 victory over Paraguay into subsequent games against Australia and Turkey, and that requires more of what we saw from Pulisic in those first 45 minutes.
Equipped with a telescope or perhaps one of those drones U.S. Soccer was flying overhead, one might have been able to get a decent look at Christian Pulisic this week as he trained individually in advance of Friday’s second game at the 2026 World Cup.
A kick in the calf during his brilliant first-half performance against Paraguay in the opening game last week led him to exit at halftime, and it has impacted his work in preparation for the second Group D game, against Australia. As witnessed by reporters at Great Park in Irvine, Calif., Monday, the United States men’s national team’s practice amounted to: They’re over here, he’s way over there.
This was true a third consecutive day Wednesday. It is not a small matter, but his teammates insist it’s not a big deal. Some of them have been around Pulisic more than a decade, from youth national teams to multiple World Cups. They understand why people care, but they’ve known him too well for too long to expect him to be absent from such a big game.
Could the USMNT get by without him for a night? Well, getting by is not the idea. What they want is to continue the standard from the 4-1 victory over Paraguay into subsequent games against Australia and Turkey, and that requires more of what we saw from Pulisic in those first 45 minutes.
5 months ago
