USA coach Mauricio Pochettino called his players “amazing” and compared their fans to their home fans in Argentina after the 2026 World Cup hosts reached the knockout stages by beating Australia 2-0 at Lumen Field.
Former champions Pochettino stopped his post-match interview to raise his fists to cheers in Seattle, where Cameron Burgess scored and Alex Freeman scored before half-time.
“It was a good game again,” said Pochettino, who oversaw a 4-1 win over Paraguay on matchday one.
“Argentina has amazing fans but we are like Argentina. It’s amazing, our fans. I feel very happy for them.”
2026 World Cup analysis: Can the USA win the final?
The USA secured another impressive win despite the absence of captain and attacking midfielder Christian Pulisic, who watched on from the bench after suffering a calf injury against Paraguay.
“Christian is one of the best players in the world and we hope he recovers quickly,” said Pochettino.
“But if we want to win the tournament, we need the whole team. All players must be important.”
Former England striker Wayne Rooney has called Pochettino’s ambition to win the 2026 edition “great”.
“Will the USA win?” Rooney asked ITV. “Maybe not, but he is the one spreading the message and you can hear that in their two games.
“That’s why he’s a top manager… he makes his players believe they can win it.”
USA vs Australia: Balogun ‘full circle’ at the 2026 World Cup
Folarin Balogun scored twice against Paraguay and produced a cross that Burgess found his own net.
“We wanted to start fast again, like we did against Paraguay,” said the former England Under-21 striker, who has switched to the USA in 2023.
“It always makes the game easier. I’m really happy for Freeman – he’s a humble kid, so he’s down to earth and getting his first World Cup goal at home makes it a special night for him too.
“It says everything. I feel like this tournament is coming to me. I’ve been committed to the US for three years and paying the fans in the big league means the world to me.”
Australia ‘lazy’ vs USA in 2026 World Cup
Australia coach Tony Popovic’s three changes at the break include the introduction of Conor Metcalfe and Nestory Irankunda, who started and scored in their impressive 2-0 opener against Turkiye, alongside Jason Geria.
“I don’t know if it was an event but we looked lazy, burdened,” said Popovic. “[The USA were] faster, more powerful.
“They won every duel, they always won the second ball and when you do that, it makes it very difficult to get any momentum.
“We conceded two soft goals, but the reaction in the second half was very impressive when you think about the noise here. [and playing a] ruling nation.
“The players showed how good they are in the second half, but at this level you can’t give up that much in the first half.
“We had a lot of guys tired in the first half. Physically and mentally, it was tough. But um, yeah, an outstanding second half, so we’ll build on that.”
Rooney announced that he “didn’t like” Popovic’s interview. “If you rest players or don’t play your best players – especially if you are facing a pressing USA team, if you need those games – you made a mistake and saw it go to the break.
“You tried to fix it and they got better in the second half. You have to play your best team to try to get out of the group, because that would have been a success for Australia. You messed up.”
The US players scored their second goal! 🙌 pic.twitter.com/pTFr3uLMZJ
— Game of the Day (@BBCMOTD) June 19, 2026
World Cup 2026: Games USA, Australia, schedule
Should Turkey beat Paraguay in the final match in Group D (04:00 BST on Saturday), the USA will win Group D and be guaranteed a place in the last 32 against one of the third-placed teams in San Francisco on July 1.
The USA and Australia play their final group stage matches on Thursday. An asterisk indicates a match that starts the next day at that location.
| The day | They don’t oppose | Location | Start time is BST | ET | PT |
| June 25 | Turkish | Los Angeles | 03:00* | 22:00 | 19:00 |
| June 25 | Paraguay | San Francisco | 03:00* | 22:00 | 19:00 |
World Cup 2026: Team USA vs Australia
The USA made one change by introducing Ricardo Pepi in place of Pulisic.
USA: Matt Freese, Alex Freeman, Chris Richards, Tim Ream, Antonee Robinson, Weston McKennie, Tyler Adams, Malik Tillman, Sergino Dest, Folarin Balogun, Ricardo Pepi
USA instead: Matt Turner, Auston Trusty, Giovanni Reyna, Brenden Aaronson, Miles Robinson, Sebastian Berhalter, Cristian Roldan, Max Arfsten, Haji Wright, Timothy Weah, Mark McKenzie, Joe Scally, Chris Brady, Alex Zendejas
World Cup 2026: Team Australia vs USA
Australia made two changes from their win over Turkiye five days ago, bringing in Nishan Velupillay and Matthew Leckie for Metcalfe and Irankunda.
Australia: Patrick Beach, Jacob Italiano, Alessandro Circati, Harry Souttar, Cameron Burgess, Jordan Bos, Mathew Leckie, Aiden O’Neill, Paul Okon-Engstler, Nishan Velupillay, Mohamed Toure
Australia instead: Mathew Ryan, Milos Degenek, Jason Geria, Connor Metcalfe, Ajdin Hrustic, Awer Mabil, Paul Izzo, Cameron Devlin, Kai Trewin, Aziz Behich, Nestory Irankunda, Cristian Volpato, Jackson Irvine, Lucas Herrington, Tete Yengi
World Cup 2026: United States v Australia stats
- This was the first World Cup meeting between the teams, who played four friendlies
- The USA had won their previous two games, winning 3-1 in June 2010 and 2-1 in October 2025, when Haji Wright scored twice on assists from Cristian Roldan.
- They have won each of their last eight games in Seattle, including each of their six at Seattle Stadium
- The victory over Paraguay was the USA’s biggest World Cup victory and the first time they scored at least four goals in a final.
- The USMNT previously won back-to-back games in the tournament in their first two games in the 1930 edition, one of which was a three-goal victory over Paraguay.
- Australia’s last World Cup semi-final appearance was in 1974, a 3-0 defeat to West Germany in Hamburg.
- They have won three of their last five World Cup games (L2), more than they have won in their first 17 games in the competition (W2 D4 L11).
- The 30 shots Australia faced in their victory over Turkey was the second most they had in a World Cup match, after 31 against West Germany in 1974.
- Irankunda became Australia’s youngest World Cup goalscorer (20 years, 125 days) in their win over Turkiye but failed to become the first under-21 player to score in his first two World Cup games since Memphis Depay in the Netherlands in 2014.
