Wayne Rooney offered personal praise to USA head coach Mauricio Pochettino and his team after the World Cup co-hosts reached the knockout stage courtesy of Cameron Burgess’ own goal and Alex Freeman’s strike at a boisterous Lumen Field.
Centre-back Burgess turned in Folarin Balogun’s cross in the 11th minute as the dominant USMNT continued their momentum from their opening 4-1 win over Paraguay, enjoying more than 70% of first-half possession and scoring with both of their attempts on target before the break.
Despite the absence of captain Christian Pulisic, who had not recovered from a calf issue, Pochettino’s side doubled their lead when 21-year-old Villarreal prodigy Freeman’s header was allowed following a Video Assistant Referee review.
“I love his look,” Manchester United all-time top scorer Rooney told BBC Sport about Pochettino. “I love his clothes. It’s a shame I can’t get his hair, but I could maybe get his clothes.”
Should Turkiye not beat Paraguay in the later game in Group D (04:00 BST on Saturday), the USA will win Group D and be guaranteed a last-32 contest against one of the third-placed finishers among the groups in San Francisco on July 1.
The US players went WILD for their second goal! 🙌 pic.twitter.com/pTFr3uLMZJ
— Match of the Day (@BBCMOTD) June 19, 2026
World Cup 2026 analysis: USA vs Australia
Australia’s three half-time changes included the introductions of Conor Metcalfe and Nestory Irankunda, who had scored in their impressive opening 2-0 win over Turkiye, alongside Jason Geria in place of Mohamed Toure, Nishan Velupillay and Cameron Burgess.
Those alterations made little impact for the Socceroos, who were fortunate when Balogun blew a fine chance after breaking clear shortly after the interval.
“This USA team are young, energetic, quick and really exciting to watch for US fans and the neutrals,” enthused Rooney, describing Australia as “awful” and having “no outlet” during the first half.
“Pochettino looks so happy. He looks like he’s enjoying it and the players look like they are enjoying it. They know the expectations of the manager and that has shown during their first two games.”
As they had done during the game, the home fans provided full-throated accompaniment to Bon Jovi’s Livin’ on a Prayer at full time as their players celebrated a campaign that has made a dream start.
How Australia team selection backfired vs USA
Former England winger Theo Walcott said Australia’s omission of 20-year-old sensation Irankunda had boosted their opponents.
“When you see that Irankunda isn’t in the starting lineup, you kind of think ‘oh great, cool,’” explained Walcott, adding that Tony Popovic’s game plan “hadn’t worked”.
“‘We haven’t really got a problem now. We can really be brave, and really go higher up on them.’ There’s no risk because there’s no outlet for Australia.”
World Cup 2026: USA, Australia fixtures, schedule
Both teams play their final fixtures in the group stage on Thursday. Asterisk denotes match starting the following day in that territory.
| Date | Fixture | Venue | BST start time | ET | PT |
| June 25 | USA vs Turkiye | Los Angeles | 03:00* | 22:00 | 19:00 |
| June 25 | Australia vs Paraguay | San Francisco | 03:00* | 22:00 | 19:00 |
World Cup 2026: USA team vs Australia
The USA made one change by introducing Ricardo Pepi in place of Pulisic, who watched from the bench.
USA: Matt Freese, Alex Freeman, Chris Richards, Tim Ream, Antonee Robinson, Weston McKennie, Tyler Adams, Malik Tillman, Sergino Dest, Folarin Balogun, Ricardo Pepi
USA substitutes: Matt Turner, Auston Trusty, Giovanni Reyna, Brenden Aaronson, Miles Robinson, Sebastian Berhalter, Cristian Roldan, Max Arfsten, Haji Wright, Timothy Weah, Mark McKenzie, Joe Scally, Chris Brady, Alex Zendejas
World Cup 2026: Australia team vs USA
Australia made two two changes from that win over Turkiye five days earlier, bringing in Nishan Velupillay and Matthew Leckie for Metcalfe and Irankunda.
Australia: Patrick Beach, Jacob Italiano, Alessandro Circati, Harry Souttar, Cameron Burgess, Jordan Bos, Mathew Leckie, Aiden O’Neill, Paul Okon-Engstler, Nishan Velupillay, Mohamed Toure
Australia substitutes: Mathew Ryan, Milos Degenek, Jason Geria, Connor Metcalfe, Ajdin Hrustic, Awer Mabil, Paul Izzo, Cameron Devlin, Kai Trewin, Aziz Behich, Nestory Irankunda, Cristian Volpato, Jackson Irvine, Lucas Herrington, Tete Yengi
World Cup 2026: United States v Australia stats
- This was the first World Cup meeting between the teams, who have shared four friendlies
- The USA had won their preceding two encounters, prevailing 3-1 in June 2010 and 2-1 in October 2025, when Haji Wright scored twice from Cristian Roldan assists
- They have won each of their last eight matches played in Seattle, including each of their six matches at the Seattle Stadium
- The win over Paraguay was the USA’s joint-largest margin of victory at the World Cup and the first time they’ve scored at least four goals in a match at the finals
- The USMNT previously won consecutive games at the tournament in their first two matches in the inaugural 1930 edition, one of which was a three-goal victory over Paraguay.
- Australia’s only previous match against a World Cup host was in 1974, losing 3-0 to West Germany in Hamburg
- They have won three of their last five World Cup matches (L2), which is more than they won across their first 17 matches in the competition (W2 D4 L11)
- The 30 shots Australia faced in their win over Turkiye was the second-most they have absorbed in a World Cup match, after a total of 31 against West Germany in 1974
- Irankunda became Australia’s youngest ever World Cup scorer (20 years, 125 days) in their win over Turkiye but failed to become the first player under the age of 21 to score in his first two World Cup appearances since Memphis Depay for the Netherlands in 2014
