Christian Pulisic remains day-to-day with pelvis injury, uncertain for Round of 16

Christian Pulisic joined the rest of his USMNT teammates in Thursday’s training session, though it’s unknown how much he was actually able to do — the session was closed to media. His official status is day-to-day following the pelvic contusion he suffered in scoring the winning goal against Iran on Wednesday, and the injury remains very painful and limiting when doing any sort of movement — involving the hip or abdominal muscles and tendons, which all converge in that area of the body.

Pulisic was in good spirits when talking to the media prior to the session — getting nailed in the testicles, or near the testicles in this case, is a uniting force of good humor for all humanity, it would appear — still basking in the glow of the USA advancing to the Round of 16, but even amid that continuing euphoria, he admitted that his status is quite uncertain for Saturday’s match against the Netherlands.

“I mean, it’s a pelvic contusion, you know? It’s not [a euphemism]. Like, I didn’t get, like, hit in the balls. It was very painful. You know, that bone is there for a reason, to protect you, I think. And I hit it well. And it was sore, but like I said, I’m getting better.”

I’m sure we’ve all suffered bone bruises before and know how painful they are. But bruising the pelvis is something that usually happens in massive uncontrolled impacts like car crashes, not two players colliding on a football pitch. It is perhaps unsurprising that Pulisic’s feeling the injury 24 hours later, and it would not be unsurprising if it still limited him 72 hours later.

He will of course do everything in his power to play on Saturday, but there are limits to the human body and our tolerance for pain.

“I’m gonna go meet now with the team and the medical staff, and make a decision on [training] today. Just kinda see how I’m feeling, taking it day by day right now. But doing everything in my power [and] work with this medical team and make sure that I can play.”

-Christian Pulisic; source: Yahoo!

Hopefully by Saturday it’s just a case of pain management, and Pulisic can be the hero once again.