This morning, many AC Milan will have woken up to the news of Christian Pulisic’s injury in America’s final friendly of the international break.
When international games mean something, you can understand why risks would be taken, but when Pulisic had already suffered a little in this break, playing a nothing friendly against Australia feels slightly pointless.
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Nevertheless, he was selected to start the game, but only lasted 30 minutes of the game before going down with a muscle injury, which is believed to be his hamstring from early assessments made so far.
Pulisic’s injury
As The Athletic, via MilanPress, reports, the injury followed two challenges from Jason Geria, which ‘compromised his game’. In the 15th minute, it was one to the ankle, and then in the 26th, a kick to his lower leg.
Both saw him go down for a short period, with the latter forcing him to be removed from the pitch. Speaking after the game, Mauricio Pochettino spoke on the incident.
“It’s not a criticism, but when you train in Austin, where it’s hot, and then come to Denver with the altitude and it’s very cold, it’s a big risk. I don’t want to say that’s the reason for the injuries to Christian and Malik, but it’s difficult for the players.
“We’re very sad about the situation. It’s something we’ll have to fix in the future. I think Christian felt something in his hamstring. He’ll fly to Italy tomorrow, and tonight we’ll evaluate the situation and see. We can’t say anything right now.”
One of his American teammates, Christian Roldan, also spoke.
“Yes, it was frustrating to see him go out with a hamstring injury. It’s not easy, especially considering how good he was at the start of the season with AC Milan. What we want to see from him is that he continues to play consistently and maintains a great rhythm, so that he can arrive at the World Cup in top form.
“I’ve already consoled him. I want him to feel that we’re all with him, and it’s really important that he begins the recovery process now, and hopefully he can return to the pitch soon.”
Additionally, Geria spoke about his game and whether he targeted the Milan star.
“I heard he got hurt, so I hope he’s okay. We weren’t specifically physical with him. I think in general, we’re a physical team and we’re ready to fight regardless of the opponent. I didn’t mean to hurt him or anything. I think there were some pretty physical battles throughout the game.”
I hate international breaks
He has to explain why he felt he needed to start his biggest star, who already wasn’t in good shape and has ankle problems in a meaningless friendly game.
In my opinion, clubs should be able to veto their players participations in meaningless friendlies especially if there is doubt about their conditions.
It’s not a meaningless friendly. As the host nation it’s the only preparation the team have for the World Cup. And there wasn’t doubt for his condition. One does not get a hamstring pull because of having a swollen ankle a few days prior.
LOL. So you’re saying 1. His ankle was 100% at the time of the game (how would you know?) and 2. Having a lower leg injury doesn’t affect the way you walk/run, which in turn could quite possibly cause another injury. Sounds like you’ve never had a leg injury…
It’s a friendly game against Australia. One of the worst teams in the World Cup. Couldn’t be more meaningless. It is level of playing against the reserves in training. Wtf are you talking about?
It may not have been meaningless but who starts an injured player seriously though. I understand he is the best thing they have by a country mile but they showed no sense in that decision and if the US can’t cope against Australia without Puli they shouldn’t be in the World Cup
Because he is a re*ard. The worst manager on the planet. Gattuso is a doctor of football for him.
Yeah let’s blame the weather,it totally not the idiot that played him twice while injured in a meaningless friendly match
Pocchetino has if anything been too careful with potential for injuries with players. It has severly reduced the amount of time the likely world cup starters have played with each other. These aren’t “meaningless friendlies” as they are the only games available for the US to prepare for the World Cup, partly because, for example, Pulisic didn’t play in the Gold Cup in the summer.
Absolutely braindead manager,he even managed to lose the french league with PSG. Every single manager when a player had a recent injury protects them. Estupinan wasn’t even in the group because he had minor issue and their manager said it’s stupid to risk players for a friendly game. Rabio got a knock 1st game , what did Deshamp do, didn’t call him for the 2nd. The Croatia manager didn’t want to play Modric for his 2nd game because he doesn’t want to risk him, without him being injured. The Portugal manager even returned Leao back to Milan because he wasn’t 100%. And all European games were official qualifications. But Mr Pochettino plays his star player twice when he had problems pre game. Really smart guy,now he will be sidelined for months probably ,because it was soooooo important to play against Australia in a MEANINGLESS FRIENDLY. There is a reason why this guy isn’t a top team coach.
The reason is not him being unable to rest players but being below average in every single aspect of what manager needs. He is like Fonseca but much worse…
Have to agree with you there after spurs this guy just became a Martinez lvl coach
Pulisic didn’t play in the Gold cup be he said he needs to rest. It was in all the media. You want to credit this to the worst manager on the planet? Pochettino is such a s*it manager, not sure why does US think he will do anything…