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What’s at stake …

The US men are out to do what no US men’s team have done in 96 years.

Win a second consecutive World Cup match.

Only twice have the US men followed a World Cup win with anything other than a loss. In 2002, they kept enough momentum from their opening win against Portugal to get a draw against South Korea, then lost to Poland and needed a Portuguese meltdown in another group game to advance to the famous 2-0 win over Mexico in the Round of 16. In their credible run in 2014, they followed the exorcism against Ghana by snatching a draw from the jaws of victory against Portugal, then bowing out with two dignified defeats against Germany and Belgium.

More commonly, a US men’s World Cup win is followed by a game fans would rather forget. In 1950, the famous win against England preceded a 5-2 defeat by Chile. In 1994, the last time the Cup was on US soil, they followed their rousing win against Colombia with a loss to Romania that reminded the casual US sports fan why they didn’t really care for soccer. In 2010, the “Howard to Donovan to Altidore to Dempsey to wow this is really happening DONOVAN SCORES ON THE REBOUND AHHHHHHHHH!! BAR CELEBRATIONS GO VIRAL” win over Algeria sent them to a second straight elimination at the feet of Ghana. Then in 2022, the Flying Pulisics avenged a 1998 loss to Iran but ran into the Netherlands.

Australia won two straight World Cup* games in 2022, beating Tunisia and Denmark to reach the knockout rounds, but they can also make history. The Socceroos have never finished first in a World Cup group. The first tiebreaker is head-to-head results, so if Australia win this game, it would take a convoluted series of results (Paraguay over Turkiye, Paraguay over Australia, USA over Turkiye) to complicate matters.

Before the 2022 Cup, the Socceroos had only won two World Cup games in their history – one in 2006, when they also got a draw to advance to the knockouts, and one in 2010.

(*) – pointing out once again that the term “World Cup” refers to the entire tournament including qualification, so what I’m describing above is technically based on results from World Cup finals, which is the term for the 32-team … I mean, 48-team … tournament we’re watching now.

With Christian Pulisic out, Mauricio Pochettino opts for a big man/little man strike partnership with Ricardo Pepi slotting in alongside Folarin Balogun. Pepi is the pool’s best hold-up forward, willing to drop into midfield to help in possession sequences and a consistent contributor to a frontline press. He can now do all kinds of off-ball work with Balogun able to stretch the backline and keep Australia from clamping into too tight a defensive block.

Malik Tillman, Tyler Adams and Weston McKennie offers adequate balance in midfield, with width coming via Sergiño Dest and Antonee Robinson.

Christian Pulisic is out

The lineups are out, and Christian Pulisic is not only not among the starters, but he’s not listed among the subs either. Mauricio Pochettino has told the Fox pregame broadcast that the US star is unavailable.

Pulisic has been dealing with a calf injury since before the first game against Paraguay, which was aggravated in the first half. Pulisic exited at half-time of the 4-1 win.

Ricardo Pepi comes into the XI in his place, which will presumably change the look considerably.

Updated

Preamble

Welcome to a matchup between two countries united by one vital fact …

Both countries refer to this sport as “soccer” rather than “football.”

Actually, most English-speaking countries commonly use the word soccer. Consider Canada, New Zealand, Ireland and South Africa.

Australia is unique in the sense that the word is incorporated in their nickname – Socceroos. Which raises an important question: Why doesn’t the US team have a cool nickname like that?

Feel free to send in your ideas while waiting for this one to start. In any case, this is a vital game, with each team poised to advance to the knockout rounds.

Beau will be here shortly. In the meantime, here’s a look at what Australia and the USA will each need to do to win Friday’s clash in Seattle:

Australia

Back Nestory Irankunda: the 20-year-old was expected to be an impact player at this World Cup, coming on as a substitute to affect matches against tiring opposition. A player of the match performance when starting against Turkey showed how Irankunda has become one of the Socceroos’ most important players. While still learning his wing-craft, his speed and determination without the ball are vital in a Socceroos outfit seemingly happy to give their opponents’ possession, and his ability to make the most of transition and direct opportunities – as seen for his opening goal against Turkey – can be a superpower.

United States

Midfield rotations are key: this is the kind of thing that any USMNT fan would have known before last week’s fantastic opener, but the nature of the US’s play in that game made it especially so. Paraguay head coach Gustavo Alfaro took time in his presser to specifically compliment the starting trio of Weston McKennie, Tyler Adams and Malik Tillman, whom he described as “floating” and a key part of a “pentagon” of play. For as well as Australia played against Turkey, they did not dictate the tempo, conceding more than 70% of possession and getting overrun in the centre of the park. If the US are going to do something with similar levels of possession, they’ll need their midfield to continue rotating effectively to help pull the Socceroos’ back two lines out of shape, manufacturing gaps in what had proven to be an airtight defence.