There is no guarantee that U.S. men’s national team head coach Mauricio Pochettino will risk Christian Pulisic in Thursday’s FIFA World Cup Group D finale vs. Turkey, but the 27-year-old is ready should the call come. “I’m feeling good,” Pulisic told reporters Wednesday from USMNT camp in Irvine, California. “I joined the team the last couple days and yeah, I’m hoping to play a part in [Thursday] for sure. Obviously, not a good chance I’ll probably go and play 90 right away normally after you come back and miss a game, but we’ll see.” Pulisic has been out of action since the USMNT’s 4-1 victory over Paraguay after he re-aggravated a calf injury that he had suffered earlier on international duty. He delivered a strong 45 minutes in the opening night win, assisting once at SoFi Stadium and also playing a part in the early own goal by Paraguay’s Damian Bobadilla. However, his second-half absence led to Pulisic missing last Friday’s 2-0 win over Australia, a result that helped the USMNT later seal top spot in Group D with one match to spare. Pulisic wanted to be out there with his teammates at Seattle Stadium, but admitted he didn’t expect to be out longer than one match. “It was obviously a different set of emotions for sure, not being able to play, but I enjoyed just being on the sideline, being around the team,” Pulisic said. “I wanted to be there and yeah, just still living that World Cup dream. I obviously just couldn’t be happier and prouder of how the guys handled that whole situation. I had faith in them. I knew they would. It’s a really cool team to be a part of and I just enjoy the experience a lot.“Honestly, I never feared anything worse,” he added. “I was pushing and I was really close to trying to be available for the last game for sure. Obviously I did feel a little something, but I definitely was able to push through in the first half [against Paraguay] with adrenaline and just get me through. But yeah, it wasn’t quite ready, but it wasn’t anything where I feared anything worse than really what it was.”Although Pulisic has been out of competitive action for close to two weeks, he returned to full training this week and has been able to stay sharp alongside his teammates. Pulisic doesn’t expect there to be much of a drop off in his performances, especially with him seeking to get back to the strong form that he delivered over the past few weeks. The USMNT starting lineup may see plenty of changes in Los Angeles, especially with Tyler Adams, Folarin Balogun, Antonee Robinson, and Chris Richards all sitting on yellow cards from earlier in the group stage. Regardless of who starts though, Pulisic expects everyone to be ready to go against a Turkey squad that will not lie down against the Americans. “I haven’t been off. I’ve been working every single day a lot,” Pulisic said. “No, I don’t think that’s enough time to lose sharpness. I’ve been touching the ball every day and whatnot. I’m working a lot. So get a couple training sessions in, I’d say I’ll feel ready.”“I think everyone on this team is ready to step up,” the USMNT star added. “I feel like it would just be a normal thing for us. We’re going to support and push everyone the same way, whoever gets the opportunity tomorrow to play, whatever the decisions may be. Everyone’s going to be ready and it just shows how much more depth and what a strong team that we have.”