Christian Pulisic was subbed off at halftime of the United States’ win over Jamaica yesterday, and no worries, he’s not injured. Given Pulisic’s recent injury history, it’s natural to maybe assume that he got hurt, but, as United States Mens National Team Coach Gregg Berhalter said: “It was a planned substitution.”
Heading into the match, Pulisic discussed his desire to stay at Chelsea and fight to regain his place in the team. Perhaps the Man of the Match award, in Chelsea’s last game, a FA Cup win over Sheffield United, will give him the confidence he needs now to reassert himself.
Berhalter then discussed the main issue that every national team manager has during international breaks, making sure his players remain fit to feature for their clubs. There is of course heightened sensitivity with Pulisic, given how injury prone his stint at Chelsea has been.
“When I think about his minutes, we want to progress him in a safe way but also help get him 90 minutes fit,” Berhalter said.
“He played 82, 86 minutes for Chelsea on Sunday. The natural progression is a half and let him play a lot more against Northern Ireland. That will set him up to gain fitness here and go back to Chelsea in a good way. He grew into the game and became very aggressive coming inside. He was certainly a major factor in that first half.”
For a side that couldn’t even qualify for the last World Cup, the USA have a ton of young talent right now, and that includes a Barcelona first teamer in Sergino Dest and Chelsea’s first man off the bench, who was also a major star for them during Project Restart, in Pulisic.
They are probably the two biggest individual names for the Stars and Stripes, although Weston McKennie and Gio Reyna aren’t far behind.
“The relationship is growing,” Berhalter said of what was just the second match with Dest and Pulisic playing together.
“It’s definitely improved from the last time they played together. If we can get those guys passing and moving and having the intention to get behind that backline, I imagine it would be really difficult for people to handle.”
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank, partnered with News Now. Banks, the author of “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,” has regularly appeared in WGN, Sports Illustrated, Chicago Tribune and SB Nation. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram.