The U.S. men’s national team is staring down a massive test against Australia in its second World Cup match, but the biggest storyline heading into the match isn’t just the opponent \u2014 it\u2019s the fitness of Captain America himself.<\/p>\n
If Christian Pulisic is sidelined, the USA faces a massive tactical void on the wing. On “World Cup NOW,” FOX Sports’ Alex Scott, former national team manager Bob Bradley and veteran defender Walker Zimmerman weighed in on who gets the nod in a “next man up” scenario.<\/p>\n
While both agreed the roster boasts incredible depth, they offered two fascinating, distinct perspectives on how to solve the Pulisic puzzle.<\/p>\n
For Bradley, the answer is simple: You lean on proven experience and raw attributes. The former USA boss didn’t hesitate to tag Tim Weah as the immediate successor to Pulisic\u2019s spot on the pitch.<\/p>\n
“I probably would go with Tim Weah,” Bradley said. “That\u2019s just based upon the fact that I think he\u2019s shown in the past that he\u2019s going to step up. He competes, obviously. He\u2019s got big experience and he\u2019s been part of that group. I think the other players trust him. He\u2019s fast, so I think that would be the choice.”<\/p>\n
Tim Weah has seven goals in 52 caps for the U.S. men’s national team. (Photo by Sebastian Frej\/Getty Images)<\/span> <\/p>\n Zimmerman pointed out Weah’s lack of familiarity with the current squad.<\/p>\n “I think the familiarity is what might concern me with Tim Weah,” Zimmerman explained. “If you have him on the right, but then you have Sergi\u00f1o [Dest] and Antonee [Robinson] on the same side on the left and I like their abilities on opposite sides\u2026 the way that they can get forward.”<\/p>\n It\u2019s a valid strategic question. The overlapping chemistry between the wingers and outside backs is crucial to the USA\u2019s attacking identity. Moving pieces around to accommodate Pulisic’s absence could inadvertently disrupt the rhythm of stars like Dest and Robinson.<\/p>\n Despite the tactical questions, Zimmerman was quick to point out Weah\u2019s resume, reminding fans of his World Cup goal against Wales in 2022.<\/p>\n Ultimately, Zimmerman views Pulisic’s potential absence as an opportunity for arguably the most talented USA roster, rather than a worst-case scenario.<\/p>\n “The good news is there are a plethora of options of players who are hungry and they\u2019re ready and they\u2019re saying \u2018this is my chance to go make an impact\u2019” Zimmerman said. “They will be ready to go, whoever\u2019s name is called.<\/p>\n Whether it’s Weah or if Pulisic is healthy enough to go, the mentality remains the same. Whoever gets their name called against Australia will be lethal, prepared, and ready to roll.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" POPULAR SEARCHES BROWSE BY The U.S. men’s national team is staring down a massive test against Australia in its second World Cup match, but the biggest storyline heading into the match isn’t just the opponent \u2014 it\u2019s the fitness of Captain America himself. If Christian Pulisic is sidelined, the USA faces a massive tactical void […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":5068,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5069","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-soccer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5069","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5069"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5069\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5068"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5069"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5069"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5069"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}