Pulisic joins the USMNT ahead of their first game of the year
European club soccer is taking their first break of the year because of the FIFA international break of March and the USMNT will play their first friendly game in Austria.
Christian Pulisic is having a ‘rocky’ season with Chelsea in his second year at Stamford Bridge, but on Sunday he returned to the starting XI for the third time since Thomas Tuchel took the managerial job and he was named the Man of the Match. The United States international played for 84 minutes in Chelsea’s 2-0 victory against Sheffield United to advance to the semifinals of the FA Cup.
Ready to see some minutes with the USMNT
This confidence boost will be beneficial to the United States men’s national team in their first two friendlies of the year in the FIFA international break of March. Pulisic arrived in Austria on Monday morning ahead of the games against Jamaica on 25 March at the Stadion Wiener Neustadt and Northern Ireland on 28 March at Windsor Park.
Pulisic has not played with the United States men’s national team in over a year due to injuries. He missed the exhibition matches against Wales and Panama in November’s FIFA international break and the friendly against El Salvador in December.
The last game that Pulisic played with the USMNT was against Canada for the CONCACAF Nations League and his last goal was against Cuba in the 7-0 victory in October 2019. Chelsea’s No 10 has scored a total of 14 goals with the United States men’s national team.
Nicholas Gioacchini re-added to the roster
The good news for USMNT coach Gregg Berhalter is that Nichola Gioacchini will be able to join the team in this international break. The coronavirus restrictions have easen up in Europe and this allows the striker to be re-added to the roster for the two exhibition games this week. Also Chris Richards, Gio Reyna and Josh Sargent will be able to play against Northern Ireland on 28 March.