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Christian Pulisic Subbed Off with Quad Injury vs. Chile; Not Considered Serious

Paul KasabianSenior ContributorMarch 27, 2019

GENK, BELGIUM - NOVEMBER 20: Christian Pulisic of the United States of America looks on during Italy v USA International Friendly at Luminus Arena in Genk on November 20, 2018 in Genk, Belgium. (Photo by TF-Images/Getty Images)
TF-Images/Getty Images

Christian Pulisic suffered a quad injury during the United States men's national team's friendly versus Chile on Tuesday at BBVA Compass Stadium in Houston and was substituted out of the match.

Jeff Carlisle of ESPN relayed further details via the USMNT:

Jeff Carlisle @JeffreyCarlisle

From US Soccer: Pulisic has right quad injury, removed from game as a precaution. #usmnt

The 20-year-old, who is playing for Borussia Dortmund on loan from Chelsea, scored in the fourth minute to put USA ahead 1-0:

U.S. Soccer MNT @USMNT

WATCH HIM WORK! 🤯 @cpulisic_10 puts away the opener in Houston! https://t.co/SDGPLa6MGt

Pulisic suffered the injury in the 36th minute, and Sebastian Lletget replaced him on the pitch.

Fans' hearts likely skipped a beat after Pulisic left the match. Initial observations did not look too promising, per Paul Tenorio of The Athletic:

Paul Tenorio @PaulTenorio

Pulisic done for the night. Looks fairly upset on the bench as docs check his right knee (or maybe lower quad?). Not good. #USAvCHI

Pulisic is the USMNT's best hope toward greater heights. Paul Carr of TruMedia Sports relayed a stat noting that the 20-year-old became the youngest player in team history to score 10 goals:

Paul Carr @PaulCarr

Christian Pulisic goal! He’s the youngest #USMNT player with 10 international goals. #RoundNumbers 🇺🇸 https://t.co/DvRAM8Rov5

Unfortunately, Pulisic has suffered numerous injuries in the last two years, as pointed out by Kyle Bonn of NBC Sports:

Kyle Bonn @the_bonnfire

This is beginning to become a serious problem for Pulisic. Nothing serious (yet) but a buildup of nagging muscular/ligament injuries is a bad omen #USMNT https://t.co/pJuS8MWFVz

As Bonn pointed out, however, none of the injuries have been serious. Hopefully, Pulisic enjoys better fortune in the future, however, which is something the USMNT has not experienced of late.

Neil W. Blackmon of The Yanks Are Coming explained that notion:

Neil W. Blackmon @nwblackmon

Pulisic getting right knee looked at after coming off immediately is terrifying. If it feels like the US have been on an endless run of bad luck since beating Panama in Orlando in October 2017, well- they have.

Pulisic can help turn those team fortunes around, though. At the least, three wins versus Panama, Costa Rica and Ecuador have certainly been promising.