The U.S. can clinch a spot in the World Cup knockout round on Friday, and Mauricio Pochettino has already spent the week reminding his players that Australia will not make it easy. A win would send the Americans through after their 4-1 opening victory over Paraguay, a result that tied for the largest World Cup margin of victory in U.S. history.
That is why the search around Pulisic is so sharp now. Christian Pulisic was substituted in the Paraguay game after he could not warm up effectively at halftime, and he said he was kicked again in his left leg during the first half. Pochettino said the problem started days earlier, and Tim Weah said Pulisic has trained off to the side of his teammates this week. Asked about his status on Thursday, Pochettino said only, “we’ll see.”
The setting gives Friday’s match a different edge. Australia also opened with a win, beating Turkey 2-0 on Saturday, and the U.S. remembers the last meeting well. Seven months ago, the teams played a physical friendly that was tied 1-1 at halftime before the U.S. won 2-1, and Pochettino used the halftime break to drive home the point that the game would not be won by waiting for Australia to back off.
He walked into the locker room and told the team, “They come and they fight.” Then came the line that hung over the night: “When are we going to fix that?” Sebastian Berhalter later put the message more bluntly, saying the group has to remember that “we’re American, we don’t take s---,” while also describing Pochettino as bringing an Argentine mindset of, “Look, this is what we do, and this is who we are, and this is what America is about.”
The U.S. has reason to trust the moment. Folarin Balogun scored 2 goals against Paraguay and became the first U.S. player to score multiple times in a game since 1930, and Tyler Adams said the team has stayed completely humble in its approach to every game and trusted the process. Haji Wright said Australia is tough to break down, dangerous on counterattacks and dangerous at the top of the pitch, and he added that the U.S. will not repeat what he saw as Turkey’s mistake of arriving overconfident.
That leaves Friday with two questions attached to the same match: whether the U.S. turns its strong start into an immediate knockout-round berth, and whether Pulisic is fit enough to be on the field when it does. The first answer would arrive with a win. The second is still waiting on the final call.
