SAN JOSE, Calif. — U.S. men’s soccer star Christian Pulisic said he feels ready to play 90 or even 120 minutes in Wednesday’s World Cup round-of-32 match against Bosnia and Herzegovina after recovering from a calf injury.
Pulisic, after missing the USMNT’s second World Cup game against Australia, returned to the squad and played 33 minutes as a substitute last Thursday against Turkey.
When asked Tuesday whether he was ready to start the knockout match against Bosnia here in the Bay Area, Pulisic said: “I felt great in the last game against Turkey. I’m feeling good this week, and I’m definitely ready to go for tomorrow.”
When asked specifically whether he felt ready to play 90 minutes, or even 120 if the game goes to extra time, Pulisic said: “Yeah.”
The 27-year-old winger has not played a full 90 minutes for club or country since mid-March. He struggled at AC Milan, his club in Italy’s Serie A, and either came off the bench or was substituted in the second half of games throughout the last two months of Milan’s season. His heaviest load was 79 minutes in an April 19 match against Hellas Verona.
Pulisic entered the USMNT’s World Cup camp with a clean bill of health, but all player workloads were managed in pre-tournament friendlies. Pulisic played 45 minutes, and scored, against Senegal on May 31; he logged 61 minutes against Germany on June 6.
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Pulisic then suffered or aggravated the injury — which he later described as “a pretty strong contusion, strain, whatever you want to call it” — in the USMNT’s 4-1 win over Paraguay in their World Cup opener on June 12.
He trained separately from teammates for a week and missed the June 19 game against Australia. The U.S. won 2-0 without him.
Pulisic returned to full-team training the following week, said he was “feeling good” and entered off the bench in the second half of last Thursday’s loss to Turkey. He looked fit and nearly scored or assisted a goal on multiple occasions.
With Pulisic presumably available to start, the U.S. will be able to roll out the same starting 11 that beat Paraguay in the opener.
The other 10 players — Matt Freese in goal; Alex Freeman, Chris Richards, Tim Ream and Antonee Robinson across the back line; Tyler Adams, Malik Tillman and Weston McKennie in midfield; Sergiño Dest on the right wing and Folarin Balogun up top — have been fit and, as far as we know, unrestricted in training throughout the past two weeks.
All 10 started against Australia as well, and might have started against Turkey if the game was consequential. The U.S. had already clinched the top spot in Group D, allowing head coach Mauricio Pochettino to rotate his lineup and give stars a rest.
The match against Bosnia kicks off at 5 p.m. local time, 8 p.m. ET, at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara.
