Pulisic uncertain for World Cup qualifying after COV
New York, Aug 27 (AP): Christian Pulisic’s availability for the United States’ opening World Cup qualifier remains unclear following his positive COVID test.
The top American player was on the 26-man roster announced Thursday for the first three qualifiers after missing Chelsea’s match at Arsenal last weekend. The U.S. starts at El Salvador on Sept. 2.
“It’s going to be just day-to-day, seeing where he’s at,” U.S. coach Gregg Berhalter said.
He’s still under quarantine conditions in England, and we’re going to have to get him stateside once he clears the quarantine and assess him. It’s really to tell if he will be available for the 2nd, for the 5th or for the 8th.”
The 22-year-old Pulisic is scheduled to report Sunday. There’s a lot of tests that he needs to go through before he arrives, Berhalter said. Pulisic is among six veterans of the 2017 team that failed to qualify for the World Cup, ending a streak of seven straight appearances for the U.S. Other holdovers include Kellyn Acosta, John Brooks, Sebastian Lletget, Tim Ream and DeAndre Yedlin. Tyler Adams, Weston McKennie, Gio Reyna and Zack Steffen are among 20 players who could make World Cup qualifying debuts.
