Team USA’s World Cup run ended with not only a severe multi-goal loss but also a significant injury to its leader up front.
On July 9, the organization confirmed in a statement earlier anonymous reports from The Athletic that leading forward Christian Pulisic was “diagnosed with a microfracture and bone bruise of the tibia/fibula in his right leg suffered during the match against Belgium.”
This update comes after several commentators—including former Team USA players—criticized Pulisic’s performance —or apparent lack thereof—during the Round of 16 match against Belgium in Seattle that brought the host country’s campaign to an end.
Team USA’s media officer, Michael Kammarman, told The Epoch Times in an email that Pulisic played several minutes before being subbed out.
The microfracture and bone bruise were only the latest injuries to impact Pulisic during the 2026 World Cup.
Head Coach Mauricio Pochettino had to pull Pulisic after the first half of the opening game against Paraguay, and then bench him through the match against Australia due to a calf injury. The Hershey, Pennsylvania, native reemerged in the second half of the group stage match against Turkey and returned to his starting position in the Round of 32 match against Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Pulisic stepped onto the World Cup pitch having become the fastest U.S. player to reach 50 goals, and before that, tied former Team USA player Landon Donovan, becoming a four-time U.S. Soccer Male Player of the Year.
He leaves this World Cup with 33 goals and 21 assists in 90 appearances thus far with the Stars and Stripes.
Now he is expected to prepare for his return to his professional club, AC Milan, in the Italian Serie A.
In his first 23 appearances of the 2025–26 season, Pulisic recorded eight goals and three assists. Over the entire previous season, he scored 16 goals and recorded 11 assists. However, his recent slew of injuries kept him sidelined for 56 days of his most recent season.
Initial reports of the injury said Pulisic would be sidelined for several weeks, putting him on track to return to AC Milan in time for the start of the 2026–27 season in August.
Meanwhile, Pulisic said he was looking forward to getting some rest and maintaining a forward-thinking mentality.
“For me, it’s just going and spending some time with family and forget about the game for a little bit, of course, try to get a little bit of rest,” Pulisic said in a previous interview, according to ESPN, before his injury was made public.
“We'll be right back in a few weeks going back to preseason and back with the national team, no doubt. There’s still a lot more that we want to accomplish.”
AC Milan’s new manager, Ruben Amorim, held his first press conference on July 8, but did not comment on Pulisic.
