Christian Pulisic has been taken to hospital after sustaning an abdominal injury whilst scoring USA’s winner against Iran.
The star forward, whose goal in the 38th minute was enough to secure a 1-0 victory and his country’s passage to the last-16 of the 2022 World Cup, was injured after colliding with Iran goalkeeper Alireza Beiranvand following his close-range tap-in.
After finishing the first-half, Pulisic was substituted at half-time and swiftly taken to hospital.
However, the 24-year-old himself insists he will be ready for Saturday’s last-16 tie against the Netherlands, captioning a selfie posted online from his hospital bed with: “So f****** proud of my guys, I’ll be ready Saturday don’t worry.”
United States head coach Gregg Berhalter added that Pulisic had been taken to hospital “as a precaution.”
“He felt some dizziness,” Berhalter said. “It was a blow to his abdomen. He was taken off due to the injury.
“It’s a wonderful thing when one of your best players is also one of the most hard working. He’s certainly that. I can’t say enough positive things about Christian.”
Berhalter also praised how his team ‘grinded’ out the victory in the second-half despite heavy Iranian pressure in the closing stages.
“In the first half we showed what we can do, soccer wise,” he added.
“We had a really good first half. Second half we showed what we could do determination wise. The guys grinded, gave every single ounce and we are undefeated going into the next round.”
The US will face Group A winners the Netherlands in the round-of-16 at the Khalifa International Stadium on Saturday at 3pm (GMT), after the Dutch beat hosts Qatar 2-0 earlier today,
