American match-winner Christian Pulisic is determined to keep the good times rolling for the United States national team. Chelsea star suffered a pelvic contusion following a heavy collision while scoring the winning goal in Tuesday’s 1-0 victory over Iran but not even pain will slow him down.##EDITORS_CHOICE##The 24-year-old was substituted after his game-winning strike and went to the hospital following the game for tests. Despite fears about his fitness back home, he and his coach are more than optimistic.”I truly believe that we can play anybody and we can beat anybody. We got out of the group, which we can be extremely proud of. But now that we’re here, we’re not just OK with doing that. We have such a strong group of guys here that it absolutely gives us confidence and also a bit of calmness that we have a good enough team to do this. I want it to last as long as it can. I want to make this something that we look back on for the rest of our lives.”Pulisic has allowed himself some moments of reflection. The goal against Iran, when he sprinted into the goalmouth to blast home Sergino Dest’s headed cross while Team Melli goalkeeper Alireza Beiranvand’s knee simultaneously collided with his pelvis, was an incredible juxtaposition of pride and pain.##NAJAVA_MECA_6861950##Pulisic’s teammates didn’t initially celebrate the goal because they were unsure why he was lying on the ground, and Pulisic — amid nausea and dizziness — was mostly trying to confirm that the goal hadn’t been ruled out for some reason by the video assistant.UPDATE: Christian Pulisic has been cleared to play in tomorrow’s match versus Netherlands. pic.twitter.com/ANg2baaJez— U.S. Men’s National Soccer Team (@USMNT) December 2, 2022 Pulisic’s coach Gregg Berhalter said the Chelsea winger was feeling better and would be tested later on Friday during training.”Regarding Christian, we’ll see him on the training field. It looks pretty good, but we’ll have to see him on the pitch to get confirmation of that.”The Americans will play the Netherlands in the round of 16.
