Gareth Bale could have accidentally dealt the United States a huge blow on Monday evening - and it has nothing to do with taking two points away from them.
Bale scored an equaliser from the penalty spot eight minutes before full-time to secure a draw for Wales, ruling out Timothy Weah's opener for USMNT, denying them a crucial win in the tournament opener.
The result came just hours after England secured a dominant win over Iran, putting them atop of Group B heading into a huge game before USA and England on Friday night.
And although Gregg Berhalter's side will be disappointed not to come away with all three points, they will be breathing a huge sigh of relief after Christian Pulisic looks to be unscathed after a tangling of legs with Bale, before the LAFC star accidentally trod on the back of Pulisic's legs near his achilles.
The American star had hobbled for a few minutes after the incident, but continued to remain on the pitch and saw out the game.
USMNT's key man, Pulisic will be needed and relied upon throughout the tournament if the team are to advance, and they'll likely need to get a result against England on Friday evening.
The Chelsea attacker is likely to be assessed, but will almost certainly start on Friday unless he further aggrevates the knock sustained.
Pulisic started on the left wing of a front three, alongside Josh Sargent as the striker with goalscorer Timothy Weah coming from the right. Weah opened the scoring in the first-half after Pulisic drove at the Welsh defence before slipping a through ball to Weah who cooly dispatched his effort into the bottom left corner.
But Walker Zimmerman's reckless challenge on Bale rightfully awarded Wales a penalty, which Bale made no mistake of smashing the ball into the top corner past Arsenal goalkeeper Matt Turner.
USMNT would perform well throughout, with 59% possession in the game but only managed one shot on target throughout the game.
The result leaves them joint-second with Wales, with England leading the group.
