Chelsea suffer Christian Pulisic blow as American star pulls out of United States squad over injury

Chelsea forward has been ruled out of international matches against Canada and Cuba after suffering a hip injury

The former Borussia Dortmund star has been in great form heading into U.S. national soccer team duty for two critical Nations League matches.

But shortly after scoring his fifth Premier League goal in three outings Saturday, the attacker left the 2-0 victory over Crystal Palace with a hip injury.

He has therefore withdrawn from the must-win games against Canada on Friday in Orlando and Cuba next Tuesday in the Cayman Islands.

“Christian is officially at this stage ruled out,” US head coach Gregg Berhalter said.

“This was a collaborative decision with [Chelsea], looking after the best interest of the player. These decisions are always difficult because this group and the coaching staff want nothing more than to have Christian here, but it was a risk we weren’t willing to take at this time.”

Pulisic’s absence is a massive setback for the U.S. squad, which must win both games to win the lightly regarded, three-team group, avoid further international embarrassment and advance to the semifinals of the Concacaf event next year.

According to the Washington Post, from Chelsea’s standpoint, the time-off will allow Pulisic to avoid making the situation worse and increase his chances of regaining fitness in time for the Premier League visit to two-time defending champion Manchester City on Nov. 23 and a UEFA Champions League game four days later at Valencia.

Photo Credit: Twitter @chelseafc.com