Pulisic targets Bosnia start after calf injury limited him to 77 World Cup minutes

Christian Pulisic has signalled he is ready to push for a starting role when the United States face Bosnia and Herzegovina in their World Cup round of 32 match on Wednesday at San Francisco Bay Area Stadium, with the 27-year-old telling reporters he felt “really good” in his most recent outing and is “excited to go for it tomorrow.”

Pulisic picked up a calf injury during the USA’s opening 4-1 victory over Paraguay, which forced him to miss the 2-0 win against Australia entirely. He returned as a second-half substitute in the 58th minute of the 3-2 defeat to Türkiye, and while the United States ultimately lost that game, his impact was immediate — the tempo lifted as soon as he came on, and he struck the right post in the 63rd minute before sending another effort just wide in the 77th.

Asked directly on Tuesday whether he would start against Bosnia and Herzegovina, Pulisic stopped short of confirming it. “I think we’ll get it figured out today,” he said ahead of the team’s training session in San Jose, leaving head coach Gregg Berhalter to make the final call.

Pulisic has yet to score at this World Cup, but he has contributed. He assisted Folarin Balogun’s first goal in the Paraguay win before being withdrawn at half-time, and his substitute appearance against Türkiye generated three clear chances in under 20 minutes on the pitch.

USA midfielder Sebastian Berhalter underlined just how central Pulisic is to the squad’s identity after the Türkiye match. “You saw his quality, and you saw the impact he had when he came in,” he told reporters. “He’s our guy. He’s, more importantly, just a great person that everyone follows, and he’s a leader in his own right.”

With the United States’ tournament on the line in a knockout fixture on home soil, the question of whether Pulisic starts from the first whistle or is again managed carefully from the bench is one of the most consequential team-selection decisions of the competition so far.