The United States secured a place in the World Cup knockout stage on Friday with a commanding 2-0 victory over Australia, overcoming the absence of star forward Christian Pulisic as an early own goal and an Alex Freeman header sealed the result.
Just as they had in their 4-1 victory over Paraguay, the U.S. forced an own goal to open the scoring, with Cameron Burgess the unfortunate defender. Freeman nodded in the simplest of headers just before the break, the goal initially ruled out for offside but given on review, prompting the U.S. bench to flood the pitch in celebration.
"It was surreal... obviously at first it was disallowed so I was kind of anxious when it went to VAR," Freeman said.
"It was so emotional for me because you dream of this moment." Australia coach Tony Popovic dropped both goal scorers, Nestory Irankunda and Connor Metcalfe, from the Socceroos' 2-0 win over Türkiye and brought them on at halftime to try to turn the tide.
Australia improved but rarely looked like getting back into the match in a second half which became increasingly fractious and lacked quality. "I don't know if it was the occasion, but we looked sluggish, heavy-legged," Popovic said.
