Christian Pulisic’s injury status remains USMNT mystery as Australia looms

IRVINE, Calif. — From no worries to day to day to there’s still time, the U.S. men’s national team messaging around Christian Pulisic’s left calf injury has gotten more pessimistic by the day.

“He’s been taking it day by day,” Antonee “Jedi” Robinson said before a third straight day of training sans Pulisic on Wednesday. “He’s not been training fully with the group yet. We’ve still got a couple of days to see where he’s at.

“Thankfully we’ve got a lot of boys on the bench who are eager and ready to get involved and helping the team, a lot of quality. It’s a long tournament. If we don’t have him back for the game, we’re gonna make sure we have him back the rest of the way because we’re gonna need him, because we’re gonna need everyone but hopefully we have everyone fit and ready to go.”

Christian Pulisic of the United States practices on his own, away from other players, during a training session for the 2026 World Cup. Getty Images

As the USMNT warmed up Wednesday, Pulisic was spotted working out in a tented gym next to the field. Minutes before reporters were kicked out of practice, he made his way to the field with a staffer and started passing a ball back and forth, still on his own. A sleeve on his injured left calf was visible.

A U.S. Soccer spokesman continued to say that Pulisic was day to day and in modified training.

It’s worth noting here that there are no injury disclosure rules at the World Cup, and no real incentive for anyone around the national team to be truthful in a situation like this.

There’s a long history of international soccer teams lying about injuries, including the USMNT, which declared striker Jozy Altidore ready to go before a 2014 Round of 16 match against Belgium, only for him to reveal after the tournament that he had a grade 2 hamstring tear.

So everything here, whether it sounds good or bad, ought to be taken with a grain of salt, and with the understanding that the intended audience is the Australian team whose preparation will be affected based on the information made available.

At minimum, though, it’s becoming hard to believe Pulisic will be available for a full 90 minutes against Australia on Friday — not least because, injury aside, he hasn’t played a whole game since March 26.

“Listen, we’re really hoping Christian’s gonna be back for the game of course,” midfielder Brenden Aaronson said. “I don’t know what’s going on in particular. We know he’s gonna give it his all to be back with the team and then be there for the game, so we’ll see. We’re really excited and we’ll see what the deal is.”

Aaronson, who didn’t feature in the 4-1 win over Paraguay, may be in line for a larger role if Pulisic can’t play.

Christian Pulisic of the United States practices on his own, away from other players, during a training session for the 2026 World Cup. Getty Images

When Pulisic came off at halftime for Sebastian Berhalter on Friday, Malik Tillman — who had been playing in a defensive midfield pivot with Tyler Adams — moved up to Pulisic’s spot as a left attacking midfielder while Berhalter slotted in next to Adams. Aaronson, Gio Reyna and Alex Zendejas are among the other options to play Pulisic’s usual role.

Berhalter and Cristian Roldan would be the obvious options to start where Tillman lined up against Paraguay should he be in a more attacking role, though Mauricio Pochettino mentioned Reyna, Alex Freeman and Sergiño Dest as possible options back when the roster was announced.

Pulisic’s individual talent on the ball and 1-on-1 ability, though, is something the USMNT simply cannot replace. No one else on the roster can do what he does, and the Americans are inherently a less threatening team in attack without him.

“I feel like we were still threatening and creating chances [once he came off],” Robinson said. “We just didn’t convert them. We could’ve scored a lot more in that game, up until Gio scored at the end. We’ve got a lot of people ready to step up and help the team, which is good.”