SEATTLE – As the hours tick closer to the United States men’s national team’s second World Cup group stage game at noon Friday against Australia at Lumen Field, Christian Pulisic’s status becomes increasingly murkier.
“He’s evolving. He’s much better from Friday,” USMNT coach Mauricio Pochettino said referring to last Friday’s opener against Paraguay, where the star forward came off at halftime due to a calf injury. “We’ll see. I think, at the moment we see it, if he’s not available for tomorrow, maybe available for the next game, but I think he’s doing a massive effort trying to be ready.”
Pochettino said he and the medical team will assess tonight, after Pulisic was barely seen at the U.S.’s training session at the University of Washington today. Pulisic, labelled day-to-day with that calf injury, has been doing modified individual work all week long, which mostly consists of gym work during the brief media viewing periods at the start of training.
Despite all the high-flying goodwill and excitement generated from the United States’ 4-1 win over Paraguay to launch this home-soil World Cup, the lingering concerns for Pulisic have clouded the week from an American perspective.
However, everyone in the States and Australia will find out at the same time, when the USMNT and Socceroos walk out to the pitch tomorrow at noon in Seattle.
“I’m sure he’ll play if he’s fit,” Australia coach Tony Popovic said. “There’s no doubt he’s one of their best players. Outstanding footballer. When injuries occur, you need another option, another solution and looking through their squad, they have plenty of options there. If he’s not there, we’ve looked at some of the players that have been playing when he hasn’t been there and looking at the various options they may have. We’ll be prepared for that.”
In Thursday’s pre-match press conferences, both Pochettino and Popovic said their respective teams were prepared for their battle on top of Group D (it’d be more surprising if they didn’t), and while both were light on the actual tactics they’d employ the next day, they both acknowledged the different challenge this opponent was compared to their openers.
“We were good in how we built up (against Paraguay),” Pochettino said. “But that is how we feel football, how we feel soccer. We will try to press, but we know that (Australia) try to play sometimes long passes, but it’s different to play long. That’s why, for us, is to put pressure, but also to be careful with the defensive transition.”
“Turkiye were more European style in terms of their technical building, slower buildup, fantastic possession,” Popovic said. “I think the U.S. team has a good mix of the two. Very powerful. Very athletic. So we know it will be a different type of challenge. Playing the home nation here, as well, is a wonderful challenge, but also a wonderful opportunity for us.”
Both also noted that while the friendly the two teams played in Denver last October wasn’t that long ago–or all that friendly, as Pochettino pointed out it was “tough” and “non official” games end up becoming “street games” sometimes–there wasn’t much to carry over aside from the mentality of both squads.
Much had been made on the American side during the week about Pochettino’s halftime speech in that game, where he delivered an animated plea to his team to match the level of an aggressive Australian performance. The U.S. did just that in a physical second half of a 2-1 victory.
It was marked as a turning point in the development of Pochettino’s USMNT, with Sebastian Berhalter remarking during the week that Pochettino had drilled the idea of “We’re American. We don’t take shit” over this World Cup cycle.
“To build that mentality, or to change a little bit the mindset, that doesn’t mean that it was wrong mindset, it’s different mindset,” Pochettino said. “It’s a great opportunity for a coach to explain what we expect for the player, or for the team on the pitch. It was a tough, tough conversation at half time, but it was necessary. I think we all need some time to wake up about some situation because always human beings, we want to be comfortable. Even if you are 54, like I am, or if you are 17, or 18, or 25. And it was, for me, it was necessary to wake up call and say that is not the right way to do the things.”
Part of that “right way” that Pochettino wanted the USMNT to match that night and going forward was the belief and togetherness of the Socceroos that night. It’s part of what that “We’re American” mantra was for Pochettino, to bring the U.S. together and pull on the same rope.
“For me, it’s their mentality,” Pochettino said of the Aussies. “They are a very strong team. Really believing in what they are doing. When we play the game in Denver, it was really one of the most difficult games that we play in this run (to the World Cup).”
Australia will be a tough game tomorrow for their physical nature, their sound defensive structure and their long counterattack, and what makes that all the more difficult is because the Aussies are all on that same page.
They believe in their system, and they believe in each other.
“I don’t think that’s a short term thing. It takes a long time to grow that belief,” Socceroo captain Harry Souttar said. “Being in camp since the start of May, every training session has gotten better. The standard’s gotten better. In terms of belief side of things, it’s looking around the dressing room and looking beside you, who you’re walking out to the pitch with and seeing the thirst we got in our team.”
A win for either the United States or Australia tomorrow puts them alone on top of the group and into the knockout rounds. If Turkiye loses to Paraguay later in the day, the U.S.-Australia winner wins the group tomorrow.
Could the stylistic match-up, particularly without Pulisic, lead to a draw? As Pochettino said about his star forward, “We’ll see.”
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