{"id":499982,"date":"2026-06-19T00:28:09","date_gmt":"2026-06-19T00:28:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/499982\/"},"modified":"2026-06-19T00:28:09","modified_gmt":"2026-06-19T00:28:09","slug":"mauricio-pochettino-noncommittal-on-christian-pulisic-status-for-australia-game-well-see-usa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/499982\/","title":{"rendered":"Mauricio Pochettino noncommittal on Christian Pulisic status for Australia game: \u2018We\u2019ll see\u2019 | USA"},"content":{"rendered":"

US men\u2019s national team head coach Mauricio Pochettino<\/a> offered very little clarity on the injury status of playmaker Christian Pulisic on Thursday, casting further doubt on his availability before the Americans\u2019 second World Cup group-stage match against Australia on Friday.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think as you know he was training individually all week,\u201d Pochettino told reporters at his pre-match press conference. \u201cLike always, I think tonight or the day before the game we have a meeting with our medical area, we will assess the whole group, and tomorrow we will communicate if we agree on something tonight. He is evolving, he is much better from Friday, we\u2019ll see.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pulisic injured his calf in training last week and was pulled at half-time of the USMNT\u2019s 4-1 victory over Paraguay<\/a> after aggravating the injury. He has been following what US Soccer has deemed a \u201cmodified training program\u201d ever since, with US players and coaches offering little else in the way of clarity.<\/p>\n

The Milan midfielder was not seen with the full group in the portions of training open to media this week at the team\u2019s training base in Irvine, California. Pulisic was in the auxiliary gym next to the team\u2019s training pitch on Monday and Tuesday, then emerged on to the field with trainers doing drills with a ball on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

After arriving in Seattle, Pulisic trained separately from the rest of the squad again on Thursday at the University of Washington\u2019s soccer complex. He was briefly spotted on the training pitch during a huddle before the session began in earnest, sporting a wrap around his left calf. Pulisic then disappeared into a nearby training facility, accompanied by US performance staffers, and was not seen again during the portion of training open to media.<\/p>\n

The tenor from Pulisic\u2019s teammates has evolved through the week.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know he really wants to be [on the field tomorrow],\u201d said US midfielder Weston McKennie on Thursday. \u201cAnd he\u2019s doing everything that he can and the staff is doing everything that they can as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brenden Aaronson, speaking Wednesday, said similar. \u201cWe\u2019re really hoping that Christian\u2019s going to be back for the game, of course,\u201d he said. \u201cWe know that he\u2019s going to give us his all to get back into the team and be there for the game.<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, Tim Weah said, \u201cI think [Pulisic will] be ready for the game and ready to be with the team \u2026 I\u2019m just praying to God that he feels 100% fit.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cChristian will be ready, everyone. Let\u2019s relax,\u201d midfielder Tyler Adams said on Monday. \u201cHe\u2019ll be fine.\u201d<\/p>\n

The US could go several different routes<\/a> in terms of replacing Pulisic. Pochettino could adjusting his approach further back in the starting XI, roll out an in-form Gio Reyna or deploy Aaronson. Undeniably, though, the absence of Pulisic against Australia could prove significant, given how well he played against Paraguay and how much of a central figure he is to the team.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen this type of thing happens it\u2019s always painful,\u201d said Pochettino. \u201cBut I think Christian is strong, with a great mentality and is doing a fantastic effort to try and be ready as soon as possible. \u2026 He is doing a massive effort to be ready.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"US men\u2019s national team head coach Mauricio Pochettino offered very little clarity on the injury status of playmaker…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":499983,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[85,46,105],"class_list":["post-499982","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/499982","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=499982"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/499982\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/499983"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=499982"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=499982"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=499982"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}