It was all tied up until the 38th minute. Serginio Dest heads to Christian Pulisic and Pulisic does not wait to control. He shoots it in just at the last second before the Iranian goalie accidentally knees him. Pulisic is now on the ground while his teammates are cheering. 

Dest walked over to Pulisic and realized he was injured. Dest called over the refs.  They took a look with the sports medicine nurses, and Pulisic limped off the field in pain with the coaches. If you look at VAR it showed that Pulisic was kneed in the abdominal area to groin area. 

For the rest of the half, the U.S. had strong control over the ball, but by the late second half the US coach Gregg Berhalter was evidently starting to look worried. Iran had great control and possession for the last 15 minutes of the game. Amazing saves by the American goalie Matt Turner and some stout defending kept the U.S. in the lead. In the end Pulisic’s goal was the winning goal. The U.S. beat Iran 1-0. 

After the game Pulisic went to the hospital and was checked for any serious injuries and he has none. 

Overall the win definitely left kids all over the middle school with the thought of the U.S. making it far in the World Cup and boosting morale! 

Unfortunately, the U.S. dreams of world soccer glory ended with a 3-1 defeat against the Netherlands this past Saturday.