USA beat Australia 2–0 to book knockout spot at World Cup

The ‌‌United States showed they could win without Christian Pulisic, ⁠⁠beating Australia 2-0 ⁠⁠to reach the World Cup round of 32, but coach Mauricio Pochettino is hoping his talisman will return for their next ⁠⁠match.

Pulisic missed Friday’s Group D clash in Seattle with a calf injury sustained in the USA’s opening win over Paraguay, leaving the co-hosts without ⁠⁠their most influential attacking player.

The Americans still found a way through, taking the lead in the 11th minute through a Cameron Burgess own goal before Alex Freeman headed in shortly before half-time after a VAR review overturned an ‌‌initial offside decision.

“It’s always difficult because we want to have all the players,” Pochettino said. “Christian is an important player for us, but… it was impossible today for him to play. We hope that next game he will be available.”

The USA moved to six points and secured their place in the knockout rounds with one group-stage match still to play.

USA’s Weston McKennie with Australia’s Alessandro Circati [Blake Dahlin/Reuters]

Pochettino ⁠⁠said Pulisic remained central to his plans but ⁠⁠added that any successful World Cup run would require contributions from the entire squad.

“If we want to win the competition, we need the whole team,” he said. “All the players need to ⁠⁠be important.

“Of course, Christian is one of the best players in the world. I hope that he can ⁠⁠recover as soon as possible and can ⁠⁠enjoy being on the pitch and helping the team.”

Weston McKennie praised the US team’s depth and said the squad showed on Friday that they could do it all.

“We can play the ‌‌physical game because we have guys on the field who are ready to step up for that, and we have guys with quality who can ‌‌play ‌‌possession-based football,” he said.

The US close out Group D against Turkiye on Thursday at Los Angeles Stadium.