Christian Pulisic Ruled Out for USMNT's World Cup Qualifier vs. El Salvador

Chelsea star Christian Pulisic will not play for the United States men's national team in its World Cup qualifier against El Salvador on Thursday.

According to The Athletic, Pulisic did not travel to the Central American nation on Wednesday after he announced he tested positive for COVID-19 on Aug. 18.

The midfielder said at the time that he was fully vaccinated and experienced no symptoms associated with his diagnosis.

The Athletic noted that Pulisic isolated for 10 days, cleared protocols and trained with the USMNT on Monday and Tuesday, but the decision was still made to hold him out of Thursday's CONCACAF match.

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While the 22-year-old is the USMNT's best player and represents a significant loss, his absence shouldn't have much of a bearing on the result in San Salvador.

The U.S. is ranked 10th in the world in the FIFA men's soccer rankings, while El Salvador is way down in 64th, which is seventh among the eight CONCACAF teams in qualifying.

The Americans have never lost a match to El Salvador and have won each of their past five meetings, including a 6-0 win in a friendly last December in Florida.

It is also notable that the USMNT has enjoyed some success without Pulisic and other top players recently. It won the Gold Cup last month, beating Mexico in the final with what was considered a B team.

Still, U.S. soccer fans are undoubtedly excited to see the dynamic Pulisic back in red, white and blue soon.

Pulisic has 16 goals in 38 career appearances for the senior national team, and he has starred at the club level as well at both Borussia Dortmund and Chelsea.

The Pennsylvania native scored in his only EPL appearance so far this season and has totaled 37 goals across all competitions for the German and British powers.

Leaving Pulisic back in Tennessee to train could be the team's best bet in terms of ensuring he is good to go for the other upcoming World Cup qualifiers.

After Thursday's match against El Salvador, the Americans will host Canada on Sunday in Nashville and go back on the road to face Honduras next Wednesday.