For the first time in its World Cup tenure, Team USA has advanced to the knockout round with one game left in its group stage to go.
Their seminal victory came against Australia in Seattle on June 19, notably without the star player Christian Pulisic. The 2–0 final score marked the first time since 1930 that the United States won its first two World Cup matches.
The Stars and Stripes got on the board thanks to an own goal from Australia’s Cameron Burgess, whose foot made the unfortunate deflection into his team’s net on a corner kick from USA’s Folarin Balogun 11 minutes into play.
Then, a header from Alex Freeman gave the USA a 2–0 lead 43 minutes into the first half. Initially overturned on an offside call, the Virtual Assistant Referee confirmed that he was not offside and allowed the goal to stand.
Freeman got his first World Cup goal after nearly having to come off the pitch following a nasty collision with an opposing player.
The Stars and Stripes held on to get the shutout win, earning goalkeeper Matt Freese his latest clean sheet. Freese faced five shots and had to make two saves.
This match, overall, took on a physical element, for better and worse. The Socceroos walked off the pitch at 90 minutes with 16 fouls, four of which were yellow cards, while the Americans earned 12 fouls, three of which were yellow cards.
If a player earns two yellow cards during the group stage, he is automatically suspended for one game. But those yellow cards would no longer count at the start of the knockout round.
Team USA’s Balogun, Chris Richards, and Antonee Robinson go into the final group match against Turkey with yellow cards.
The victory came without the team’s star playmaker, Pulisic, who was on the bench due to continuing issues with a calf injury. Head coach Mauricio Pochettino stressed the importance of having a whole team that can win the game rather than just one player.
“If we want to win the competition, we need the whole team,” he told Fox Sports after the match. “All the players need to be important, but of course, Christian is one of the best players in the world, and we hope that he can recover as soon as possible.”
Freeman also talked about how the victory demonstrated the depth of his team, praising Ricardo Pepi for stepping up to fill Pulisic’s role against Australia.
“It says that, you know, we have a really strong roster, right? And it also says that whichever players are going to come are here, you know, we're gonna try to execute, be 100 percent, and get results,” he told Fox Sports in a post-game interview.
“We have that chemistry, you know, to just have an all-around team that can, you know, come in and get results, no matter what,” he said.
Team USA became the second team in the World Cup to advance to the knockout round, following co-host Team Mexico, which defeated South Korea 1–0 on June 18.
The second half of this group, Paraguay and Turkey, face off at 11 p.m. ET on June 19 in San Francisco.