Christian Pulisic suffered a bone bruise and microfracture of his tibia/fibula in the USMNT’s round-of-16 loss to Belgium, confirmed by Tom Bogert and Paul Tenorio, sidelining the AC Milan attacker for several weeks and casting a shadow over what had already been a tournament defined by injury management.
According to reporting from The Athletic and ESPN, U.S. Soccer diagnosed the injury via X-ray and MRI, with Pulisic expected to miss approximately four to six weeks. The targeted return to training with AC Milan falls in August, leaving him in a race to be fit for the Rossoneri’s Serie A opener, reportedly against Torino on August 23 per the Serie A schedule.
According to match reports, the injury occurred in the second half when, per The Athletic, Pulisic was involved in a collision during an attacking move and struck the leg of a Belgium midfielder. He tried to continue before being substituted, per match reports, after Belgium’s third goal in a 4–1 defeat. For the full picture of how that match unraveled, the USMNT-Belgium match recap covers the damage in detail.
A Tournament-Long Fitness Battle
This was not a bolt from the blue. According to reports during the tournament, Pulisic had been managing a left calf issue that forced him off at halftime against Paraguay and kept him out entirely against Australia. He returned for limited minutes against Turkey – with U.S. Soccer carefully rationing his involvement, as covered when he came back against Turkey with minute limits in place – before, per match reports, starting both the round-of-32 win over Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Belgium match.
According to reports, he was hurt in two of the four matches he played at this World Cup and left a third early. The pattern is familiar: his widely reported pelvic contusion while scoring against Iran at the 2022 World Cup is the most famous entry on the ledger, but per prior coverage, there have been hamstring, ankle, and knee-related absences scattered across his time at Chelsea and with the USMNT as well.
Milan Timeline and What’s Next
The four-to-six week window is more forgiving than initial fears of a serious fracture, and according to reports, U.S. Soccer and AC Milan are jointly overseeing his rehabilitation. The Belgium loss also highlighted how thin the margin for error was heading into the knockout round, with the U.S. attack stretched across the tournament.
For Milan, the calculus is straightforward: if Pulisic hits the August training target, he should be available for the Serie A opener, preserving most of the season. The next meaningful update will come from club medics as preseason ramps up.
