USA head coach Mauricio Pochettino has confirmed that Christian Pulisic is still struggling with the after-effects of an ankle issue.
Pulisic has started the season in brilliant fashion, with six goals and two assists in just eight matches for Milan across all competitions. On Thursday he was named Serie A Player of the Month for September after a stellar month, but some worrying words have come from the United States.
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Pulisic did not train the day before the friendly against Ecuador but did end up coming on as a 73rd-minute substitute, which certainly implies that he was feeling a bit better on matchday. Another bad bit of news was regarding Pervis Estupinan, who came off with an ankle issue.
Pochettino spoke to TNT before kick-off in the eventual 1-1 draw with Ecuador in Texas and he gave an update on Pulisic’s fitness.
“Christian didn’t train yesterday. He’s [been] suffering, from the preseason, a small issue in his ankle. After training Wednesday, his ankle was a little bit swollen. It’s an important game, yes, but at the same time, it’s important to not take risks,” he said (via ProSoccerWire).
“Of course, he’s going to be on the bench, and we’ll see. We will decide if maybe he can play. If not, [the goal is] to be ready next Tuesday [against Australia].”
I was at the game and he looked good and only played 20 minutes. Pervis on the other hand had to come off in the first half with an injury. So might see bartasaghi again, it looked like a muscle strain or pull.
Watching Puli warm up infront of me I noticed his attention to detail. While the other subs were doing the same warm ups, they half do them, if you have to turn your head 3 times and jog they do it once and go but puli does all 3 exactly the same. He did every single warm up 100% effort and accuracy. He’s so locked in and focused, he has the killer instinct and you can see the hard work and professionalism in just his warm up.
Interesting. Thanks for sharing.
I was also at the game and he did not look close to 100%. Didn’t lack the explosiveness he usually has and clearly hesitant to put himself in positions where he could get tackled and hurt it worse. Wasn’t committing to things. Still made an impact and wasn’t the worse player, but clearly still ginger with it