While USMNT fans were celebrating 20-year-old Weston McKennie’s 88th minute winner for Schalke, there was some bad news that came across the wire as well.
Borussia Dortmund announced that fellow 20-year-old American Christian Pulisic would miss Wednesday’s Champions League match against AS Monaco due to “torn calf fibers,” which is almost surely as bad as it sounds.
There’s no word (medical specifics, timetable for return, etc) other than that brief and relatively vague diagnosis, but it can be safely assumed that Pulisic will probably miss one or two weeks at the very least, and potentially more. That would almost certainly mean Pulisic will be sidelined for USMNT matches this upcoming international window against Colombia and Peru, and depending on the severity, it could also leave him in jeopardy for the matches in mid-November against England and Italy. Pulisic was a part of Dave Sarachan’s squad announced on Monday.
It was not announced where or when the injury was sustained, meaning it was more than likely suffered during training. Pulisic was withdrawn in the 68th minute of Dortmund’s 4-2 win over Bayer Leverkusen on Saturday, but by all accounts that switch appeared to be tactical and not injury related.
It’s been a tough last few months for Pulisic health-wise. It was clear to the casual observer that Pulisic had run out of steam in the second half of last season with Dortmund, falling in production and creativity. He used the summer to rest with the United States missing out on the World Cup, but has had a number of injuries to deal with so far this young season. He missed a pair of Bundesliga matches in early September due to “muscular problems” which were not specified, which left him sidelined for the September international break as well.
He did manage to come back on September 18th and score the game’s only goal in a 1-0 Champions League win over Club Brugge, and then bagged Dortmund’s score in a 1-1 Bundesliga draw against Hoffenheim four days later.