Christian Pulisics injury status remains USMNT mystery as Australia looms

IRVINE, Calif.— From no worries to day to day to there’s still time, the U.S.

men’s national team messaging around Christian Pulisic’s left calf injury has gotten more pessimistic by the day.“He’s been taking it day by day,” Antonee “Jedi” Robinson said before a third straight day of training sans Pulisic on Wednesday.“He’s not been training fully with the group yet.

We’ve still got a couple of days to see where he’s at.“Thankfully we’ve got a lot of boys on the bench who are eager and ready to get involved and helping the team, a lot of quality.It’s a long tournament.

If we don’t have him back for the game, we’re gonna make sure we have him back the rest of the way because we’re gonna need him, because we’re gonna need everyone but hopefully we have everyone fit and ready to go.”As the USMNT warmed up Wednesday, Pulisic was spotted working out in a tented gym next to the field.Minutes before reporters were kicked out of practice, he made his way to the field with a staffer and started passing a ball back and forth, still on his own.

A sleeve on his injured left calf was visible.A U.S.Soccer spokesman continued to say that Pulisic was day to day and in modified training.It’s worth noting here that there are no injury disclosure rules at the World Cup, and no real incentive for anyone around the national team to be truthful in a situation like this.

There’s a long history of international soccer teams lying about injuries, including the USMNT, which declared striker Jozy Altidore ready to go before a 2014 Round of 16 match against Belgium, only for him to reveal after the tournament that he had a grade 2 hamstring tear.So everything here, whether it sounds good or bad, ought to be taken with a grain of salt, and with the understanding that the intended audience is the Australian team whose preparation will be affected based on the information made available.At minimum, though, it’s becoming hard to believe Pulisic ...