Pulisic says United States can be proud after group stage exit

Christian Pulisic came back onto the field at Los Angeles Stadium on June 25, and the timing mattered as much as the result. After a left calf injury in the first half of the opener against Paraguay on June 12 had kept him out at least against Australia, Pulisic returned against Turkey and said the United States could be proud of what it had done in the group stage.

That judgment lands in the middle of a home World Cup that runs from June 11 to July 19, with the United States cohosting alongside Mexico and Canada. The draw put the Americans in Group D with Paraguay, Australia and Turkey, a path that was supposed to measure whether the team could handle a manageable opening round and still sharpen itself for the knockout stage.

Pulisic had already set the standard before the tournament began. On May 26, he said the main goal was to get out of the group stage and take things “partido a partido,” a modest benchmark that now frames the discussion around whether the United States actually met expectations or simply survived the first hurdle. The loss to Turkey gave the closing note of the group stage a harsher edge, even with a place in the round of 32 secured and Bosnia and Herzegovina waiting next.

For a player U.S. Soccer describes as the national team’s leading attacking reference, the stakes around Pulisic’s availability remain unusually high. He scored the winning goal in the 1-0 victory over Iran on Nov. 29, 2022, the result that sent the United States into the round of 16 at the Qatar World Cup, and he has been named U.S. Soccer’s Male Player of the Year in 2017, 2019, 2021 and 2023.

That record gives his return against Turkey more than symbolic weight. If the United States is going to turn a mixed group stage into a real knockout run, Pulisic will have to look less like a player easing back from injury and more like the attacker who has carried the program’s biggest moments onto the biggest stage.