USMNT left sweating over star man Christian Pulisic as he suffers worrying injury in World Cup opener
Christian Pulisic was forced off at halftime in USA’s World Cup opener due to a calf problem, Mauricio Pochettino has revealed in a worrying injury update.
On an otherwise joyous night for the co-hosts, who kicked off their World Cup campaign in style with a resounding 4-1 win over Paraguay, Pulisic departed at the break after helping America storm into a three-goal lead.
With the win seemingly in the bag, Pochettino initially appeared to be giving his star player an early rest.
However, after the victory the USMNT coach told Fox that the decision to replace Pulisic was actually injury related.
Pochettino explained that the AC Milan forward took a kick to the calf and felt some discomfort, before admitting: ‘We didn’t want to take any risks.’
‘I’m really hoping it’s nothing,’ Pulisic told reporters after the game. ‘I’m taking a little bit of precaution today but I’m hoping I’ll be fine.’
Christian Pulisic was forced off at halftime in USA’s World Cup opener due to a calf problem
The AC Milan forward took a kick to the calf and felt discomfort in the first half of USA’s 4-1 win
Before picking up the knock, Pulisic registered an assist in a stellar first-half performance for the USMNT, who enthralled the home crowd with an aggressive attack while racing to a 3-0 halftime lead – the team’s largest in any World Cup game.
Folarin Balogun scored twice in that historic first half as the US opened a first home World Cup in 32 years with its biggest win in the tournament, an impressive 4-1 victory.
Pulisic created the first two goals with exceptional runs down the left side. In the seventh minute, he cleverly split two defenders and passed to Weston McKennie, whose centering touch hit Paraguay midfielder Damian Bobadilla’s outstretched foot and went in, setting off pandemonium in the SoFi Stadium stands.
The Americans gradually amplified their attack centered around Pulisic’s runs – and three minutes after an apparent goal from Balogun was erased by an offside call, he again drove the left side and got a deflected pass to the trailing striker, who banged it home.
With first-half injury time winding down, Malik Tillman weighted a long pass to a confident Balogun, who held up to create space and fired a brilliant shot into the far top corner for his second of the night.
USA were less cohesive without Pulisic in the second half, but Giovani Reyna still added the finishing touch by gliding into the box and toe-flicking home his first World Cup goal.
The moment was sweet for Reyna, who barely played at the Qatar World Cup amid a messy family dispute with former US coach Gregg Berhalter.
Dozens of celebrities turned out for the match 10 miles south of Hollywood, including Tom Cruise, David Beckham, George Lucas, Bill Gates, Halle Berry, Leonardo DiCaprio, Paris Hilton and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
