Christian Pulisic Suffers Leg Fracture as United States Exit World Cup Against Belgium

LOS ANGELES, United States — The United States men's national team said Thursday that star forward Christian Pulisic fractured his leg during the co-host nation's 4-1 World Cup defeat to Belgium.

Pulisic appeared to sustain the injury early in the second half of Monday's match when he went for a shot and struck the back of Belgian midfielder Youri Tieleman's leg. The team's main attacking threat tried to carry on but was withdrawn a short time later, not long after the Americans fell 3-1 behind.

The result in Seattle sent the United States out in the round of 16 for a second straight World Cup.

"Christian Pulisic has been diagnosed with a microfracture and bone bruise of the tibia/fibula in his right leg suffered during the match against Belgium," the US Soccer federation wrote on social media. US Soccer and Pulisic's club side, AC Milan, "will be collaborating on his recovery plan", it added.

Belgium's win closed out a US campaign that had opened strongly and had briefly stirred hopes among fans of a remarkable home-tournament run. Pulisic — the squad's highest-profile player — drew sharp criticism from former internationals over how early he left the field. Former forward Landon Donovan, in an expletive-laden podcast rant, said the manager would "have had to drag me off the field." "I would have punched the doctor in the face and said, 'You're not taking me off the field,'" said Donovan, who remains the United States' all-time leading World Cup scorer with five goals.

US Soccer did not immediately outline a recovery timetable. Because of the injury, Pulisic would not have been available for later knockout rounds even if the Americans had advanced. The Athletic reported that Pulisic "will be sidelined for several weeks but not months", citing multiple people briefed on the diagnosis. AC Milan open their Serie A campaign on August 23.