• The surprise guest waited patiently at the end of the line of well-wishers welcoming the United States team back to its hotel after their 1-0 victory over Iran early Wednesday morning.
• Safely out of the rowdy fray of high-fives and powerful hugs, beaming broadly and recording the players’ arrival on his phone was the man who had made the celebration possible: Christian Pulisic.
• Pulisic, the scorer of the Americans’ only goal in the win that sent them through to the knockout stages of the World Cup, had taken a different route home from the stadium.
• He had been injured while scoring the goal, which ended with his violent collision with the Iran goalkeeper, forcing him from the game at halftime and then to the hospital for tests.

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