SEATTLE – United States men’s national team star Christian Pulisic continued to train separately from the team on Thursday.
With just over 24 hours to go until the U.S. kicks off against Australia in World Cup Group D play, Pulisic walked into practice to join a pre-warmup huddle with a wrap around his ailing left calf, accompanied by performance/medical staffers and then went to the gym and did not train with teammates.
U.S. coach Mauricio Pochettino is expected to speak on Pulisic’s status in his news conference Thursday at 6:45 p.m. ET.
Pulisic first injured the calf last week in training, and was forced off at halftime of last Friday’s 4-1 win over Paraguay when he reaggravated the injury.
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Pulisic did do some field work on Wednesday, which was an improvement over previous sessions, but it was unclear if he continued to progress on Thursday.
Teammate Weston McKennie was the latest USMNT player to profess ignorance over Pulisic’s condition, but sounded hopeful the attacker could play.
“I’m more just the energy guy, you know, either way, just trying to get good spirits and hopefully [Pulisic] can be there tomorrow,” McKennie told reporters prior to Thursday’s session.
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“I know he really wants to be and, and he’s doing everything that he can and the staff is doing everything that they can as well.”
Among the players that could step in for Pulisic if he isn’t able to go are Borussia Mönchengladbach midfielder Giovanni Reyna — who scored against Paraguay — América attacker Alejandro Zendejas, Marseille‘s Timothy Weah and Leeds United‘s Brenden Aaronson.
