American forward Christian Pulisic worked separately during Monday practice as he recovers from a calf injury that restricted him to one half in the team’s opening World Cup win last week. Pulisic completed individual drills before heading to the gym while teammates trained at their base in Irvine, California. The AC Milan player suffered the injury after being kicked during a session the prior week and exited the 4-1 victory against Paraguay at halftime as a precaution. He performed well in his second World Cup opener, creating problems for Paraguay’s defense with runs on the left at SoFi Stadium. Pulisic provided an assist for Folarin Balogun and contributed to an own goal that helped the U.S. reach a 3-0 lead in their highest-scoring World Cup match. The team offered no update on his status Monday, though he indicated after the game that the issue did not appear serious. He expressed hope that the kick in the first half would not cause problems and remained positive about returning soon. Coach Mauricio Pochettino also avoided media questions, but teammate Tyler Adams expressed confidence that Pulisic would recover in time. The U.S. continues group stage matches in its home World Cup with a game against Australia in Seattle on Friday, after both sides won their openers. The Americans then return to Inglewood on June 25 to face Turkiye.
