Around nine hours after its 2-0 victory over Australia on Friday afternoon, the United States clinched first place in the 2026 World Cup’s Group D when Turkey lost 1-0 to Paraguay in Santa Clara, Calif.By then, Mauricio Pochettino’s team had already returned to its Southern California base in a buoyant mood after sweeping to a second straight win to begin the competition.With optimism for the U.S. at a new high, Matias Galarza’s excellent early strike for Paraguay only added to the positive momentum. It proved to be enough, and the U.S. can now firmly start planning in earnest for what lies ahead. Next Thursday’s third group game against Turkey now has no bearing on the Americans’ fate. Their path through the knockout bracket — at least in terms of dates and locations — is set in stone.This is exactly what the USMNT wanted. Earlier in the day, midfielder Weston McKennie said: “It is amazing to know that we are going through but we don’t want to just go through. We want to win the group and be top of the group and try to get a way to advance in the fashion that we want to.”How has the U.S. clinched Group D already?Although all four Group D teams have one game remaining, the U.S. has an insurmountable lead thanks to FIFA’s new tiebreaker rules.Whereas goal differential was the first decider at previous World Cups, head-to-head results are the first tiebreaker this time around. The U.S. has that tiebreaker over Australia after Friday’s win, and over Paraguay after last week’s trouncing in the opener.So, even if the U.S. lost to Turkey, and even if Australia or Paraguay also reached six points, the U.S. would still sit atop the group. Turkey will finish bottom of Group D. Even three points against the U.S. would leave it unable to leapfrog Australia or Paraguay, with both of those teams now owning the head-to-head tiebreaker.Matias Galarza struck early for Paraguay. (Richard Heathcote / Getty Images)How did U.S. players find out they’d won the group?Less than three hours after they walked dreamily around Lumen Field, saluting a sold-out crowd, basking in a special afternoon, U.S. players were boarding a flight back to Southern California.