The American head coach said the Chelsea star will undergo several tests before his status is determined
U.S. men’s national team head coach Gregg Berhalter says that the team is taking a “wait and see” approach to Christian Pulisic’s availability as the Chelsea star continues to recover from a positive Covid-19 test.
Pulisic tested positive for the coronavirus last week, ruling him out for Chelsea’s 2-0 win over Arsenal at the weekend.
But, ahead of World Cup qualifiers against El Salvador, Canada and Honduras, Pulisic has been named to Berhalter’s squad even though his availability is still a question mark.
What did Berhalter say?
“Regarding Christian it’s going to be day to day just seeing where he’s at,” Berhalter said on Thursday.
“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 too early to tell if he’ll be available for September 2, for the fifth, or for the eighth. We just don’t know right now. It’s going to be a wait and see kind of thing.”
Berhalter added: “There are a lot of things that need to happen before that for him to actually get on the plane.
“Let’s be clear. This is a Covid situation and there’s a lot of tests that he needs to go through before he arrives. Even then, everyone handles it differently, everyone responds to it differently, everyone recovers from it differently. That’s the process we’re looking at.”
Berhalter, who named a 26-player roster for the upcoming qualifiers, reiterated that he’ll only be able to name 23 players to the gameday squad with the extra three call-ups accounting for any potential absences due to fitness or, in Pulisic’s case, a positive test.
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