U.S. Soccer's Christian Pulisic Vows He'll Be Back for Next World Cup Game Despite Pelvic Contusion

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Christian Pulisic reassured fans that he will be back for the U.S. soccer team's match against the Netherlands, despite suffering an injury during Tuesday's winning game against Iran.

In his game-winning 1-0 goal — which guaranteed the U.S.'s spot in the knockout rounds in the World Cup — Pulisic collided with Iran's goalkeeper, Alireza Beiranvand.

Though the U.S. Men's National Team (USMNT) forward came back in to finish the game after half-time, as ESPN reports, he was brought to the hospital following the game and was determined to have suffered a "pelvic contusion," notes CNN. A U.S. soccer spokesperson told CNN that Pulisic, 24, went for medical scans but "was not hospitalized."

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ESPN shared a retweeted hospital pic of Pulisic in good spirits, with his mouth open wide and flexing his arm. "So f--king proud of my guys. I'll be ready Saturday don't worry," the caption read, with several prayer and heart emojis. In a video posted by the USMNT upon the team's return to the hotel lobby in Qatar, Pulisic can be seen smiling in the footage amid the cheers, holding up his phone to capture the celebratory moment.

"He seems to be doing good, just spoke with him a couple of minutes ago," USMNT coach Gregg Berhalter told CNN This Morning on Wednesday. "Hopefully he'll be ready for the game against the Netherlands. But in terms of his contribution to the group, I've said all along that when one of your most talented players is also one of your hardest workers, you know you're in a good spot."

Thanks to Pulisic, Team USA will be playing in the round of 16 for the first time since 2014 against group A's winners, the Netherlands, who are ranked no. 8 in the world.

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Now nicknamed "Captain America" among fans, Pulisic's work ethic started young. The Hershey, Pennsylvania native's father was a professional soccer player, and he moved multiple times during his childhood — including to England and Germany, where the budding soccer star started his club career at age 16 with Borussia Dortmund.

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In a September interview ahead of the World Cup, Pulisic said his love of the sport really began at age 2 when he started kicking a ball around. (His mother also played the sport at George Mason University, where his father played as well before his pro career.)

Pulisic said that the fact that he had fun playing compelled him to work hard. In particular, he worked on his "first touch" after a pass constantly: His father would repeatedly kick a ball high in the air, and Pulisic would have to bring it down and control it as quickly as possible.

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"You gotta make sure that you love what you're doing," he said. "If you truly love and you're passionate about the path you're going down, when things get tough, you're not gonna quit, because you love it."