Sluggish first half dooms Australia against USA

USA 2-0 Australia

SEATTLE, WA–A sluggish first half by the Socceroos was enough to doom them against the USA, who won 2-0 at Seattle Stadium (aka Lumen Field). The USA advance to the Round of 32 and could win the group should Turkiye fail to defeat Paraguay later in the evening in Santa Clara.

There was a significant portion of the 66,295-strong crowd were representing the Green and Gold, but they would have nothing to cheer about the first half. Eleven minutes in, a run into the box by Forlain Balogun forced an own goal by Cameron Burgess to give the USA the early lead. Australia were lucky not to be down further until the 43rd minute a deflected shot came to the head of Alex Freeman and into the net.

Tony Popovic had started his two goalscorers from the win against Turkiye on the bench in Nestory Irankunda and Connor Metcalfs. They both entered the match at halftim along with Josh Geria, but it really wouldn’t be until the insertion of Cristian Volpato in which the Socceroos showed signs of life and threaten the scoreline.

In the end, the atmosphere and the Americans proved too much for Australia in the end.

“I don’t know if it was the occasion but we looked sluggish, heavy-legged,” said Australia coach Tony Popovic. “They were quicker, they were more powerful, they won every duel, every second ball and when you do that, it makes it very difficult to gain any momentum and then we conceded two soft goals. I thought the reaction second half was outstanding. [In the face of] this noise here [against]the host nation I think the players showed how good they are in the second half.”

It’s still mostly in Australia’s hands to advance to the Round of 32. Some of that depends on what Turkiye and Paraguay do later Friday night in Santa Clara. Most likely, a positive result against Paraguay in Santa Clara (6pm PT, FS1/NBC Universe), will likely be more than enough. They cannot afford to have another sluggish start like they did in Seattle on Friday. The USA will play Turkiye on Thursday in Los Angeles (6pm PT, Fox/Telemundo).