The United States secured a place in the World Cup knockout stage on Friday with a commanding 2-0 victory over Australia, overcoming the absence of star forward Christian Pulisic as an early own goal and an Alex Freeman header sealed the result.
Just as they had in their 4-1 victory over Paraguay, the U.S. forced an own goal to open the scoring, with Cameron Burgess the unfortunate defender. Freeman nodded in the simplest of headers just before the break, the goal initially ruled out for offside but given on review, prompting the U.S. bench to flood the pitch in celebration.
"It was surreal... obviously at first it was disallowed so I was kind of anxious when it went to VAR," Freeman said.
"It was so emotional for me because you dream of this moment." Australia coach Tony Popovic dropped both goal scorers, Nestory Irankunda and Connor Metcalfe, from the Socceroos' 2-0 win over Türkiye and brought them on at halftime to try to turn the tide.
Australia improved but rarely looked like getting back into the match in a second half which became increasingly fractious and lacked quality. "I don't know if it was the occasion, but we looked sluggish, heavy-legged," Popovic said.
"I think the players showed how good they are in the second half, but obviously at this level you can't give away that much in the first."
The U.S. moved on to six points and into the last 32 before their last game against Türkiye on Thursday in Los Angeles, when coach Mauricio Pochettino hopes to have Pulisic available. "But if we want to win the competition, we need the whole team. And all the players need to be important," he said. The U.S. will top Group D if Türkiye do not beat Paraguay later on Friday. Australia remain second on three points and next face Paraguay in San Francisco.
The U.S. started slightly nervously in front of a raucous full house but quickly settled into the match, with Weston McKennie particularly influential, and took a well-earned lead in the 11th minute.
Folarin Balogun tore down the left flank and played the ball towards Ricardo Pepi, replacing Pulisic, and the covering Burgess sent the ball into his own net.
Australia struggled to get out of their own half as the U.S. maintained control, with Australia's best moment of the first half coming just before the hydration break, when Freeman blocked Mathew Leckie's threatening cross.
The U.S. finally got the second goal their dominance deserved in the 43rd minute: a free kick was played to Sergino Dest on the edge of the area and his shot was blocked, but looped into the air with goalkeeper Patrick Beach on the floor to give Freeman an easy finish. Freeman said securing the win without Pulisic showed the depth the U.S. could rely upon.
"It says that we have a really strong roster and it says that whichever players we're going to put on the field we're going to execute and be 100% and get a result," Freeman said. "Christian is such a vital part of this team, but if he's not available, someone else is going to have to step in."
The second half was low on incident, with the U.S. content to protect their lead and conserve energy, though Australia's Harry Souttar missed a golden opportunity with five minutes left which could have set up a tense finale. "We had opportunities to score, we had chances," Souttar said. "I could say a lot of things I don't want to say just because it's so raw."
