{"id":305165,"date":"2025-10-15T11:00:13","date_gmt":"2025-10-15T11:00:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/305165\/"},"modified":"2025-10-15T11:00:13","modified_gmt":"2025-10-15T11:00:13","slug":"pulisic-hurts-hamstring-pochettino-cites-massive-risk-in-usmnt-weather-shift","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/305165\/","title":{"rendered":"Pulisic hurts hamstring; Pochettino cites \u2018massive risk\u2019 in USMNT weather shift"},"content":{"rendered":"

COMMERCE CITY, Colo. \u2014 U.S. men\u2019s national team coach Mauricio Pochettino called the change in climate between matches in Austin and Denver this window a \u201cmassive risk\u201d to his players, after star Christian Pulisic left Tuesday\u2019s 2-1 win over Australia<\/a> in the first half with a hamstring complaint.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not a criticism, but when you have days in training in Austin where it\u2019s (85-95 degrees) then you come to Denver with the altitude and it\u2019s really, really cold \u2014 it\u2019s a massive risk,\u201d Pochettino said, while noting that Malik Tillman also did not dress for the game after \u201cfeeling something\u201d in his hamstring that he likened to a cramp as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t want to say this is why Christian or Malik felt something, but it\u2019s tough on the players. We\u2019re really sad about this situation because it\u2019s difficult. It\u2019s something we need to fix in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n

Temperatures in the Denver area dropped to a reported high of 57 F and low of 43 F at the start of this week, according to AccuWeather. Austin, where the USMNT played out a 1-1 draw with Ecuador last Friday, saw a high of 92 F and a low of 69 F on that matchday.<\/p>\n

Pulisic exited midway through the first half after a second tough tackle from Australian defender Jason Geria. Although he\u2019d felt some ankle soreness last week<\/a>, and played only 18 minutes Friday against Ecuador, the treatment he received on the field did not seem to suggest an ankle injury. Pochettino later confirmed that it was Pulisic\u2019s hamstring.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think he (felt) something in his hamstring,\u201d Pochettino said after the match. \u201cBut tomorrow he will fly to Italy, tonight we will assess, and we will see. We cannot say (anything) at the moment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Geria crunched Pulisic first in the 15th minute, as the U.S. star checked to the ball from his left-sided attacking position. A pass came into Pulisic\u2019s feet, but Geria beat him to it, and Pulisic\u2019s right ankle got stuck between Geria\u2019s legs on the follow-through.<\/p>\n

Pulisic stayed down for about 30 seconds after that tackle, clutching the ankle, then got back up as Pochettino jawed at the referee.<\/p>\n

He played on, seemingly unaffected by the knock, until the 26th minute, when he spun past Geria in transition. As he broke away to run at the Aussie defense, 2-v-2, Geria clipped his lower leg from behind.<\/p>\n

This time, Pulisic stayed down for two full minutes. First, he dug his face into the grass. Then he rolled over, and slapped the ground once with his left hand. He soon pulled himself up to a seated position, but waited there for two USMNT medical staffers to come attend to his right leg. A minute later, he walked off the field as Pochettino and assistant coach Jes\u00fas P\u00e9rez stared blankly at the scene.<\/p>\n

\"Christian<\/p>\n

\n Christian Pulisic and Jason Geria battle for the ball in USMNT\u2019s friendly vs. Australia (David Zalubowski \/ AP Photo)<\/p>\n

As Pulisic reached the sideline, Pochettino appeared to ask one of the staffers, then Pulisic himself: \u201cWhat happened? What happened?\u201d<\/p>\n

Pulisic\u2019s face, hiding apparent frustration, never flinched. After a brief exchange, with blades of grass stuck to his cheek, he went to take a seat on the U.S. bench, as Diego Luna prepared to replace him.<\/p>\n

Pulisic stayed there for a few minutes as the game continued, and on multiple occasions, he hunched over, visibly upset. On one occasion, backup goalkeeper Matt Turner, seated to Pulisic\u2019s right, put his left arm around Pulisic and patted his back, consoling him.<\/p>\n

Soon after that, Pulisic got up and walked toward the locker room accompanied by two USMNT staffers. As he neared a door to the indoor portion of Dick\u2019s Sporting Goods Park, Wright scored to bring the U.S. level. Pulisic heard a crowd of roughly 18,000 roar; he turned around, pumped his fists and applauded. Then he continued through a door and out of sight.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, it was disappointing to see him leave with a hamstring injury,\u201d said midfielder Cristian Roldan, who assisted on both of Haji Wright\u2019s goals Tuesday night. \u201cIt\u2019s not easy, especially with how good he has been throughout the year with AC Milan. What we want to see out of him is to get consistent games and continue in a great rhythm so that he gets to the World Cup in a good spot. I\u2019ve (consoled) him already. I want him to feel that we\u2019re there for him, and (it\u2019s) really important for him to now start the recovery process and hopefully get back onto the pitch again.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pulisic, who is tied for the Serie A lead in goals, will return to AC Milan this week, though it\u2019s unclear if he\u2019ll be fit for Sunday\u2019s game against Fiorentina.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"COMMERCE CITY, Colo. \u2014 U.S. men\u2019s national team coach Mauricio Pochettino called the change in climate between matches…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":305166,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[85187,4740,148962,2842,221,62,67,132,68,33686],"class_list":{"0":"post-305165","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-associazione-calcio-milan","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-fifa-mens-world-cup","11":"tag-international-football","12":"tag-soccer","13":"tag-sports","14":"tag-united-states","15":"tag-unitedstates","16":"tag-us","17":"tag-us-mens-national-team"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115377840478231705","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/305165","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=305165"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/305165\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/305166"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=305165"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=305165"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=305165"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}