USA 2 Australia 0
The hosts through comfortably to the Round of 32. I think it’s safe to say that this was probably the easiest game the USA will play all tournament against an Australia side that had no real intention of attacking in the game, the US got off to a perfect start as Folarin Balogun sped past Alessandro Circati and fired the ball into the box that was then turned into his own net by Cameron Burgess who got his feet mixed up and put the US 1-0 up in the 2nd minute. From there it was all USA who were pressing the life out of Australia who couldn’t get out of their half for the entire 45 minutes, a free-kick just outside the box to the right allowed the USA to double their lead as Robinson played the ball to the edge of the box to Sergino Dest who’s shot took a deflection straight into the air with Alex Freeman being the beneficiary and heading the US into a two-goal lead in the 42nd minute. Australia had to make changes at half-time and did subbing 3 players on which did make Socceroos more dangerous but they couldn’t get that one-goal back that could have made the USA nervy in the second half, the next match against Paraguay is huge now for Australia who will need to get something out of that game to make sure of qualification. The USA might rest players as 1st place is secured already, what a start to the World Cup for Mauricio Pochettino.
The USA are delivering so far in this World Cup. Before the tournament I was worried about the USA as their form was shaky since Pochettino came in but they have peaked at the perfect time and have looked brilliant so far in the two games, they were completely dominant for 90 minutes and really should have scored more against a really poor Australia side on the day. Whilst I think all the USA players had a good game today I was most impressed with the midfield of Tillman-McKennie-Adams who worked tirelessly to win the ball back all game which allowed the US to keep up the copious amount of pressure on the Australia backline, the front two of Balogun and Pepi did the same pressing the life out of Australia’s defenders who just kept giving the ball back to the US. Pressing is a non-negotiable in a Pochettino team and he’s clearly got his ideas across to this USA team who look pretty unstoppable at the minute, I wouldn’t want to be facing them in the next round.
Poor team selection cost Australia dearly today. I’ve got to say I was shocked to see Irankunda and Metcalfe on the bench after scoring against Turkey last week with Tony Popovich going for a more defensive line-up today and it backfired massively in a pretty disastrous display for Australia, they had absolutely no pace on the counter to hurt the US in the first half which just allowed Pochettino’s team to attack over and over again without facing any pressure from the Aussie. That did change in the second half but at that point they were already 2-0 down so it was a tall ask for this Australia team to get back in the game, they did have chances to get back in it in the second half towards the end but they just lacked that composure in front of goal which we saw against Turkey in the first game. It’s not the end of the world as a point against Paraguay in the final game would almost certainly see them through which would still be a success for this Australia team, a missed opportunity today though to show their strengths.
So, how far can the USA go in this World Cup? I’ve got to say I’ve been mightily impressed with the way the US have gone about this World Cup so far, even without Christian Pulisic today they were completely dominant over an Australia side that beat Turkey last week, obviously they are a level below the likes of France, Argentina, England but with the home advantage in the knockouts they could easily give those teams a run for their money if they face each other. As for the rest of the teams in the tournament I see no reason that the USA wouldn’t be confident of going through if they faced the likes of Belgium, Senegal, Netherlands etc who I’d see are pretty evenly matched against this US side, why not dare to dream if your an American supporter?
What does this result do to the group? This result means that regardless of what happens in the final group game the USA are guaranteed to be qualified for the Round of 32 and unless Turkey win their next two matches 1st place is also secured, Turkey play Paraguay later on tonight and cannot lose or else they will be out of the World Cup which is kind of crazy. Australia most likely will need at least a point against Paraguay in the last game to go through so there’s still a lot of variables in this group, the picture will be much clearer after the Turkey Paraguay game tonight. Will Turkey be eliminated later on tonight? Surely not.