It’s a sight we have seen far too often- Christian Pulisic exiting a match early due to his having suffered yet another injury. The Chelsea winger was forced out of the second half of the USA’s 4-1 World Cup qualifier victory at Honduras, in the 62′, due to ankle injury.
You have to give the 22-year-old Hershey, Pennsylvania native a lot of credit, he tried to press on and play, even with a noticeable limp, for about five minutes and until it became just an impossible task.
Christian Pulisic is forced off for the USMNT due to injury ? pic.twitter.com/1hYHS5WS7C
— ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) September 9, 2021
He was replaced by Cristian Roldan with the U.S. tied 1-1 at the time in San Pedro Sula at the time. The Stars and Stripes went to halftime down 1-0 and without a single shot on goal. They then rallied to totally dominate the second half, getting three goals after the 75′.
Their scoring came via:
- Antonee Robinson (48′)
- Ricardo Pepi (75′)
- Brenden Aaronson (86′)
- Sebastian Lletget (90’+3′)
As for Pulisic, he played all 90 minutes on Sunday in the 1-1 home draw to Canada, despite this being his first action since recovering from Covid-19. In hindsight this seems like a poor decision, and he probably should have just eased back into it instead.
“We’ll get more information when he returns to London [for his club, Chelsea] on the severity of it,” USA Coach Gregg Berhalter said of Pulisic’s injury.
For now, you have to consider him a doubt for Chelsea’s Premier League fixture against Aston Villa this weekend.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank, partnered with News Now. Banks, the author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America” and “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,” has regularly appeared in WGN, Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune.