SEATTLE — No Christian Pulisic? No problem.
The United States men’s national team, playing without its injured star attacker, continued its captivating surge in this World Cup on Friday, beating Australia 2-0 to advance to the knockout rounds with one group stage game remaining.
The U.S. hasn’t won Group D just yet, but this victory — the first time since 1930 that the Americans have won back-to-back World Cup matches — means they need only a draw in Thursday’s match with Türkiye to make sure of topping Group D and sending themselves to Santa Clara for a favorable round of 32 match against a third-place team.
Will Pulisic take part against Türkiye? It remains to be seen, though the team says his left calf, which led to him being substituted at halftime of the opening match, is improving.
Read more:USMNT’s Christian Pulisic trains apart from team again; Pochettino due to address status
“He’s an important player for us, Christian, but it was impossible today for him to play,” coach Mauricio Pochettino told Fox after Friday’s win. “We hope that next game he will be available but if we want to win the competition we need the whole team and all the players need to be important.
“But of course Christian is one of the best players in the world and I hope that he can recover as soon as possible.”
The formula on Friday felt familiar: Just as they did against Paraguay last week, the Americans forced an early own-goal from Australia to take the lead after 11 minutes, then extended it late in the first half.
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This time, it was Alex Freeman, son of former NFL wide receiver Antonio, who reacted quickly after Sergiño Dest’s shot from distance deflected high into the air in front of the 6-yard box. Freeman — barely onside — nodded the ball home and, after a dramatic VAR check, celebrated his first World Cup goal with glee.
“It was a fantastic game again, very good first half,” Pochettino said. “I think we dominated the game against a very tough team.”
The energy around Lumen Field was electric throughout the match, which wasn’t surprising as the city had been buzzing for hours ahead of the 12 p.m. local kickoff. This soccer-crazed city has reveled in hosting the men’s national team for the first time in 10 years, and “U-S-A” chants could be heard for blocks even before the teams had arrived on site.
Once inside, the American-heavy 66,925-person crowd was in a frenzy from the start, and when Folarin Balogun whizzed down the left side and sent in a perfect cross that Cameron Burgess turned into his own net, the atmosphere exploded.
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The U.S. didn’t play quite as freely and creatively as they did a week ago, but there was still plenty of flair.
Balogun, who scored twice in the opening 4-1 win over Paraguay, continued to push up top and Dest played with particular purpose. The American midfield had intensity, with Tyler Adams cleaning up behind Weston McKennie’s dribbles and Malik Tillman again linking well. Chris Richards and Freeman were stout in defense.
It was a comprehensive performance from a team missing its most famous player and will give the U.S. team — and its fans — plenty of belief that a historic run is still in the offing, regardless of Pulisic’s status.
Read more:Christian Pulisic (calf) out of USMNT’s World Cup clash with Australia
That said, everyone on the U.S. side would much rather have him back. U.S. Soccer originally described his injury, which Pulisic first picked up two days before the Paraguay game and aggravated that evening, as a “knock.” The plan — or hope — was for him to ramp up his activity all week leading up to Australia and be in the lineup here.
Instead, Pulisic never practiced with his teammates all week. On Friday morning, just hours before the match, he trained again but wasn’t deemed fit; he was in street clothes when the game began.
Pochettino’s decision to insert Ricardo Pepi — instead of a more like-for-like sub like Brenden Aaronson — was surprising. But the U.S. didn’t miss a beat.
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Pepi, making his first World Cup start, wasn’t spectacular but was effective in helping the U.S. press. And in a game that was significantly more physical than the Paraguay match, the U.S. quality ultimately delivered the needed result.
As he spoke on the field after the U.S. clinch its place in the knockouts with a game to spare for the first time, Pochettino, the Argentine coach who has been criticized at times amid inconsistent results during his near-two years in charge, basked in the glory of American fans chanting his name.
“I was saying yesterday, Argentina has amazing fans but I think we are matching Argentina,” he said. “So happy for them.”
