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‘He gave his body for his country’: Alexi Lalas heaps praise on Christian Pulisic after suffering a painful injury scoring US winner over Iran…as Clint Dempsey claims was the biggest goal of his CAREER
Alexi Lalas heaped praise on Christian Pulisic after the US’s nail-biting 1-0 victory against Iran on Tuesday, when the winger’s decisive strike cost his body massively.
Pulisic put the USMNT ahead in the 38th minute from a header from Sergino Dest, but the close range celebration of the finish was muffled when he collided with Iranian goalkeeper Alireza Beiranvand during the game, right after making contact with the ball.
After lying down for several minutes, Pulisic continued for the rest of the first half, but was taken off at half-time with an abdominal injury.
Christian Pulisic’s goal against Iran in the first half came with a price, as he was injured during the game
Pulisic left the game at half-time due to the injury, with Brenden Aaronson replacing him
He lay there for several minutes, appearing to be in severe pain before continuing for a moment
Nevertheless, the U.S. was able to hold out and win without him, and Lalas made sure to acknowledge Pulisic’s bravery after the game.
“I mean, he just gave his body for his country at that point,” the FOX analyst said.
“Like you said, he wanted it more. He made an incredible amount of space in a very short time to get past his defenders. And just putting his body on the line and putting that ball in, it was the decider.
Alexi Lalas praised Christian Pulisic for his bravery after the US victory over Iran on Tuesday
Clint Dempsey, who himself scored four World Cup goals for the USMNT, was also quick to praise the significance of the match winner.
“Christian, we talked about legacies, stepping up in big moments, achieving big goals,” he said. “I don’t know if there’s a bigger goal in his career than here.”
USA coach Gregg Berhalter said after the game there was no update on the attacker, while FOX said during the postgame show that he was taken to the hospital.
“I always say it, it’s great when one of your best players is one of the hardest working,” Berhalter said of Pulisic. “I can’t say enough good things about Christian.”
Pulisic later posted a photo of himself celebrating victory from his hospital bed and said he will be ready for the next round after suffering a pelvic contusion.
The USMNT will meet the Netherlands in the eighth finals on Saturday. For now, however, the USA can celebrate emerging from a tough Group B, with Pulisic’s teammates clearly appreciative of his post-game contributions.
“Obviously we’re really thankful he threw his body out there, but the thing is, we’ve got 25 other guys outside of Christian who would do the same thing, I believe,” said Weston McKennie.
“We know what our goal is, we know what we want to do, what we want to achieve and everyone is ready to give it their all.
Unfortunately he had to go. But when you see how much stature Christian has and he puts his body on the line, that should say enough what the team means and how close-knit this team is.’