COMMERCE CITY, Colo. -- United States manager Mauricio Pochettino said he would wait until Tuesday to determine if AC Milan attacker Christian Pulisic will play in the Americans' friendly against Australia, while Fulham defender Antonee Robinson has been ruled out due to ongoing issues with his knee.
Pochettino did say on Monday that Pulisic is progressing well in terms of his injured ankle, having logged around 20 minutes in the draw against Ecuador Friday. He added that Pulisic participated in Monday's training session, but the U.S. manager wants to wait to see how the player reacts before making a decision.
"I think the reaction after the 20 minutes playing [against Ecuador], I think was good," Pochettino said about Pulisic. "His ankle I think reacted very well and just hope that tomorrow he can be available. We need to wait today for the reaction too, but I think it's much better than when we he arrived."
As for Robinson, Pochettino said that the Fulham defender is experiencing some pain in his knee, though he didn't indicate if it was the knee Robinson had surgery in May.
"Antonee is, from the beginning of the camp, he's with some small issue in his knee, a little bit of pain," Pochettino said. "We are managing him in the best way, but he still cannot be involved in training and for sure tomorrow cannot be involved in the game. I hope that it's not an important thing, but [can] come back to his club and can be in a normal way there training."
With regard to the lineup against Australia, Pochettino said he was mulling over whether to keep things mostly the same and make some tactical tweaks, or give other players in camp a chance to perform.
It will likely be a mixture of both, though the Argentine coach is leaning more towards making changes.
Pochettino said: "A player that maybe can [play] tomorrow [and] have the opportunity to perform and say 'Hey, be careful because I am knocking the door and I can be there also in the World Cup.' I think more this than [keeping things the same] and for sure maybe we're going to [have] changes and maybe change the shape."
Pochettino said that while the U.S. is still honing in on a tactical identify, Australia is "more solid in the ideas and I don't believe that they're going to change in the way that they're going to play."
He expects a side that, like Ecuador, is going to play very aggressively.
"I think they're going to force us to give our best to also match in different aspects," Pochettino said. "Not only in the game plan, if not in the duels, but in situations that are going to happen in the pitch, that we need to manage better and better and we need to improve. Australia is going to help in this way."