Christian Pulisic suffered leg microfracture in USMNT loss to Belgium, will miss several weeks

U.S. forward Christian Pulisic suffered a bone bruise and microfracture in his leg during Monday’s World Cup loss to Belgium, and will be sidelined for several weeks but not months, multiple people briefed on the diagnosis told The Athletic.

Pulisic appeared to sustain the injury in the 52nd minute of the U.S. men’s national team’s 4-1 defeat, when he wound up to take a shot at the edge of the penalty box but instead kicked the back of Belgian midfielder Youri Tielemans’ calf.

Pulisic tried to play through the injury for several minutes, but hobbled around the field, and was then substituted in the 59th minute.

“I just totally twisted my ankle and my knee in one play,” he said after the match.

Subsequent medical assessments revealed the extent of the injury to be a bone bruise and microfracture of the tibia/fibula, sources said.

Pulisic was seen on crutches at the U.S. team hotel the following day, and would not have been able to play in subsequent World Cup games if the U.S. had advanced.

The estimated timeframe for Pulisic’s recovery puts him on track to return sometime in August, meaning he could be back in training ahead of the new Serie A season — AC Milan get their campaign underway away at Torino on August 23.

Pulisic has been the face of the USMNT’s deflating World Cup exit. The first half of Monday’s round-of-16 match against Belgium was his worst half of the tournament.

But the U.S. trailed only 2-1 early in the second half when he received the ball at the top of the box, opened up his body, and attempted to shoot. When Tielemans intervened, Pulisic’s left ankle rolled outward as feet collided. Pulisic’s right leg also whacked into Tielemans’.

Pulisic went to the turf and stayed down for a little less than a minute. He got up and tried to stay in the game, but he was clearly hampered and in pain. He bent at the waist and winced.

He limped through the next few minutes. In the 54th, when he tried to run behind Belgium’s defense, he pulled up hobbling after the ball didn’t reach him. He seemingly couldn’t decelerate. In the 55th, he struggled to make another run off the ball. In the 56th, he received a ball in the pocket but couldn’t do anything with it and hobbled some more.

By that time, U.S. coach Mauricio Pochettino had decided to make a substitution. Sebastian Berhalter eventually replaced Pulisic in the 59th minute, immediately after Belgium scored its third goal via a mistake from U.S. goalkeeper Matt Freese.

Pulisic gritted his teeth and pursed his lips, in apparent pain, as he walked toward the bench. He was later pictured slumping in his seat on the bench, pulling his jersey up over his face, as an athletic trainer looked at his right leg.

It was the winger’s second injury of the World Cup. He set up two U.S. goals in the first half against Paraguay before leaving the game at halftime with a calf injury that also kept him out of the Australia game. He returned as a substitute against Turkey before starting the knockout win over Bosnia and Herzegovina.

In the aftermath of the U.S.’s elimination, Pulisic has been roundly criticized for comments he made to Fox in a postgame interview. Asked about his injury, the winger tried to shrug off its importance in the larger picture: “It’s just frustrating to end like that, of course, but now I have time to rest, so hopefully it’ll be OK,” he said.

Pundits and former players, including USWNT legend Carli Lloyd, criticized Pulisic’s choice of words.

“You rest when your playing career is over. Period,” Lloyd wrote on social media.

U.S. men’s national team legend Landon Donovan said on his Unfiltered podcast that, “you would have had to f***ing drag me off the field.”

It marked the second consecutive World Cup in which Pulisic had to miss time due to injury. In Qatar, Pulisic injured his pelvic area scoring the goal vs. Iran that sent the U.S. through to the knockout stage. In the HBO documentary U.S. Against the World, he is shown trying to get around team doctor George Chiampas and insisting he did not need to go to the hospital. Pulisic did eventually go to a hospital, but returned for the last-16 game against the Netherlands, which the U.S. lost, 3-1.

Pulisic’s next matches will be for AC Milan. Milan’s new coach, Ruben Amorim, speaking Wednesday about Pulisic for the first time, called the 27-year-old a “really talented player,” and said: “He is perfect for the way I think about football, especially here in Italy where sometimes the teams defend so well that there is less space between the lines. He is a player who can make the difference in that kind of space.

“I know the strengths of Pulisic, I believe in him, he will be supported in our club. I know he had some criticism after the World Cup elimination, but I am here to say we believe a lot in him, and have a clear plan to use all the qualities that he has. … Pulisic is really important for us.”

Pulisic’s Milan contract runs through the end of the upcoming season.

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