Christian Pulisic Got Hurt Scoring the Winning Goal During the U.S. Victory Over Iran

The U.S. has advanced out of the group stages and into the next round of the FIFA World Cup after beating Iran, but it came at a cost. The team's star forward, Christian Pulisic, was hurt after scoring the only goal of the match. He had to be substituted out of the game at halftime.

Now, many soccer fans are wondering exactly what happened to Christian, and whether he's expected to play in the upcoming match against the Netherlands.

The only goal in the U.S. and Iran game came in the first half after Christian lobbed a ball off a cross into the back of the net. As he charged forward to score the goal, though, Christian collided with the Iranian goalkeeper Alireza Beiranvand. The collision came as Christian was still running at full speed, and the video makes it clear that part of his leg collided with Alireza's cleat.

After scoring the goal, Christian didn't get up for some time. A medic came onto the field, and the U.S. ended up playing a man down to give Christian time to recover. When the second half of the game started, Christian didn't return to the field. He was eventually taken to a hospital where he was treated for the injury.

After the game, the U.S. Men's team tweeted out the news that Christian had been officially diagnosed with a pelvic contusion. The diagnosis left many scrambling to find out how serious that injury is and what it might mean for Christian's ability to play in the next match for the U.S. on Dec. 4. Basically, a pelvic contusion is a bruise to your pelvic region, which is the inside of one of your thighs.

The tweet from the U.S. team also made it clear that Christian's status is unclear, but it seems like U.S. coach Gregg Berhalter is hopeful that he'll be available for the upcoming game against the Netherlands.

“He seems to be doing good, just spoke with him a couple of minutes ago,” Gregg said during an interview with CNN on Nov. 30.

“Hopefully, he’ll be ready for the game against the Netherlands," the coach continued. "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.”

Christian was one of the faces of the men's team even before the World Cup began. The goal against Iran made it clear that all of the hype and attention is deserved.

Fox Sports, which is broadcasting this World Cup, posted a picture of Christian in a hospital bed along with the caption “So f--king proud of my guys I’ll be ready Saturday don’t worry.” It seems that Christian believes he'll be ready for the next U.S. match, but he's already seen as a hero by many for scoring the goal that got the U.S. out of the group stage.