World Cup: Christian Pulisic returns to practice ahead of US-Turkey, game status unknown

IRVINE, Calif. (AP) — Christian Pulisic returned to training with his U.S. teammates on Monday after missing their most recent match of the World Cup with a calf injury.

Pulisic participated in warmups and ball drills during the 15 minutes of practice open to the media in Orange County. The team gave no formal update on the status of the AC Milan midfielder, who has been limited to one dynamic half of play in the unbeaten Americans’ home World Cup.

Pulisic didn’t play in the Americans’ 2-0 victory over Australia in Seattle last Friday. He played the first half of their tournament-opening victory over Paraguay, catalyzing two of the U.S. team’s three goals in the first half of a historic 4-1 win before coming off at halftime with stiffness from the injury incurred the previous week in training.

Pulisic trained apart from his teammates during the workouts between the first two games, so his return to the full squad was obviously encouraging. He had been limited to gym workouts, resistance training and light ball work during his absence.

“It’s a tough situation when you’re going through a small, little knock,” U.S. teammate Alex Zendejas said Monday. “It’s an important tournament where obviously everyone wants to be able to get out there 100%, but (we don’t) talk about the injury or talk about the moment (Pulisic) is going through. (We) talk about other stuff, try to get his mind off of it. Just be there for him.”

The U.S. finishes group play on Thursday night at SoFi Stadium against Turkey in a meaningless game for the group-winning Americans and the already-eliminated Turks.

The Americans’ first knockout match is on July 1 in Santa Clara, California.

U.S. coach Mauricio Pochettino still didn’t have his entire roster on the field at Great Park. Midfielder Cristian Roldan missed practice with a strained muscle.

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