IRVINE, CALIFORNIA - JUNE 17: Christian Pulisic of the United States practices on his own, away from other players, during a training session for the 2026 World Cup at Great Sports Park on June 17, 2026 in Irvine, California. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images)
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After a thrilling 4-1 win over Paraguay in their World Cup opener, the United States men’s national team continues its tournament campaign against Australia on Friday afternoon.
A win and the Americans would be more or less guaranteed of a spot in the next round, and potentially even first place in the group with some help elsewhere. A loss and the USMNT hopes to advance could rely entirely on their Matchday 3 clash with Turkiye to close out the group.
Here is everything you need to know ahead of the Yanks’ clash with the Socceroos.
Friday, 3 pm ET | Lumen Field, Seattle
Fox, Fox One (English) | Telemundo, Peacock (Spanish)
The focus this week in USMNT camp has been on Christian Pulisic, who departed the victory over Paraguay with a leg injury at halftime.
At the time, that decision was characterized as cautionary. But the American star has been limited to individual training in the time since. Perhaps that’s a sign of a more serious issue. Or maybe it’s just a case of a coaching staff using kid gloves given the length of the tournament and the team’s prospects following their opening win.
The good news is that manager Mauricio Pochettino has spent much of his tenure trying to build alternative game models for when Pulisic and other key players aren’t available. As a result, the attacking midfield positions are arguably the deepest on the U.S. roster.
If Pulisic doesn’t go, conventional wisdom suggests Sebastian Berhalter could start alongside Tyler Adams in defensive midfield, with Malik Tillman pushed fruther forward. But don’t rule out Pochettino doing something more aggressive or unexpected, given his willingness to take big swings. The most like-for-like replacement might actually be Club America man Alex Zendejas, who most think was one of the last inclusions on Pochettino’s 26-man squad.
Matt Freese (GK) - Antonee Robinson, Tim Ream, Chris Richards, Alex Freeman - Tyler Adams, Malik Tillman - Gio Reyna, Weston McKennie, Alex Zendejas - Folarin Balogun
Socceroos manager Tony Popovic engineered an exceptional result of his own in a 2-0 victory over highly fancied Turkiye, with Nestory Irankunda scoring before halftime and Connor Metcalfe finding a second after the interval.
The tactical posture, starting in a 5-4-1 and allowing Turkiye the majority of the ball, certainly wasn’t much surprise given the gulf in technical quality between the squads. But it was executed beautifully.
The question is whether the Socceroos can go again as effectively as in the opener on two days’ fewer rest than the United States. There’s a lot of extra work that comes with conceding 74% of the possession.
That said, Popovic was able to give some late minutes off for both of his outside backs after Metcalfe’s second strike, though he left one of his five subs unused.
Patrick Beach (GK) - Jordy Boss, Cameron Burgess, Harry Souttar, Alessandro Circati, Jacob Italiano - Nestor Irankunda, Paul Okon-Engstler, Aiden O’Neill, Connor Meltcalfe - Mo Touré
As good as the Americans looked in their opener, it’s still worrisome that they couldn’t keep a clean sheet even against a very ordinary Praguayan attack.
The Socceroos might not have a player of the quality of Julio Enciso, but they can make up for that with more athleticism across the squad and present more consistent danger from a counterattacking posture.
The success of Pochettino’s squad will likely rely on how much his outside backs can contribute going forward. Fortunately they’re equipped for exactly that with Antonee Robinson on the left and most likely Alex Freeman on the right. And in the end, that should be the difference between a narrow victory and a draw.
USA 2, Australia 1
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