Pre-match: USA v Australia Game 2 6/19 3 pm ET

Fully fit Canada is way ahead of Australia skillwise. Australia doesn't have Davies, David, Eustaquio or functioning midfield. I thing the result says much more about stupidity of Turkish players than abilities of Australians. I can imagine them scoring on a counter against us, but feel that quickness of Pulisic, Dest and short passing game will destroy big and tall Australian defenders.

 

Paraguay needs a draw and win against Australia.

 

A few thoughts.

It took until page 8 for a few to mention it but I think the home field advantage will be massive, especially if Aus want to sit in like against Turkiye. The vibe will be VERY different.
If you are going to be there, cheer loud for all of us at home!

Poch and his team love this type of puzzle. I think this is where he earns his paycheck. Previous versions of our team have just sent in hopeful cross after cross with no meaningful adjustments in tactics. With all we have in our quiver now, I dont expect this to be the case this time around.

Balo was incredible on Friday but we also have another striker with a much different profile in Ricardo Pepi. Turkiye had no one moving in the middle. One of Pepis strengths is his movement and his ability to disrupt defensive shapes. His movements and passing in the Senegal game were excellent. He is also used to a bunker in the Dutch league where he scores lots of instinctual (scrappy) goals. If we are getting frustrated, i would hope to see him sooner than later.

Defensively, unless McKenzie or Trusty are lightning fast, i think we need to trust the experience of our guys and hope that we can stay in front of most everything. Maybe Freeman stays at home more? But again, I trust this staff to not overlook a couple fast dudes doing fast dude things to be our undoing.

Gonna be a long week.

 

Having watched the UFC main event tonight I've seen enough, the US is winning the World Cup

 

Agreed. And the Richards 100% completion stat has been discussed a lot, but Ream’s stats may have been even better.

The guy was 88 of 91, which is crazy high itself, but more crucially he completed 23 line-breaking passes, which is the most by any defender in the World Cup since 2010.

Australia will know that both of our CBs are excellent with the ball at their feet.

 

Top speed only matters for Gio Reyna

Okay that is not ideal tbh

 

There are 2 absolutes in sports
1- in hockey you play a hot goalie
2 - in soccer you play a hot striker

 

Is the advantage of winning the group that much greater than the advantage of going into the first knockout round with a rested and fresh starting lineup? I’m not so sure.

 

Looking at the split for the Knockout round, it's pretty clear that FIFA arranged things pretty carefully. Mostly avoiding anything too crazy from a travel perspective other than for 3rd place teams.

Group D winner v 3rd place (most likely Group B)
Group G winner v 3rd place (most likely Group A)

Group J winner v Group H Runner-Up
Group D Runner-Up v Group G Runner-Up

Tough to say which route is harder. The 3rd place route for advancement in Group D is very likely to send them to play on the "July 4 in Philadelphia" route against the winner of the Germany and France groups.

 

This is gonna be difficult to achieve given they only play them once.

 

im guessing he purchased someone’s winning ticket for upfront cash, in exchange for the delayed annual payments. The winner didn’t want to wait for their money, so he probably paid them like $50 million in order to get $100 million over 20 years.

 

I've had a busy weekend and haven't read a single post here yet, so it either makes it a great time to share my thoughts, or it'll make me look like I've just repeated what others have said (depending one what's been said, of course).

I watched the extended highlights of the Aus-Tur game yesterday morning. Australia definitely looked significantly better than I expected--plenty of attacking prowess, good team shape, energetic (I expected that one), well-organized defense. The biggest issue facing us this week comes in the form of Irankunda and Touré. Both of those guys (but particularly Irankunda) are extremely fast (and in the case of Irankunda--holy moly does that guy have an extra gear that he can get up to in an instant).

I think we all expected they'd bunker and counter us, and those two guys are a real threat to our back line, especially given how we play pushing up ARob and sometimes Freeman (with Dest nowhere near the back line). We all know that Ream is slow. Chris Richards--I don't have him pegged as particularly fast, though certainly faster than Ream. The fastest CB we've got, by a wide margin, is Miles Robinson. For this reason, my prediction is that Miles will start in Ream's place to try to keep up with those two Aussies. There will be nervy moments. I am not excited about watching Irankunda run at any of our players.

 

A few observations from perusing Socceroos forums. Their fans are very much into gathering bulletin board material from our media for any perceived slight against their team. There is a general sense that their team is being underestimated coming into the match with us. Some seem to want to win this game more than any other. There is a sense that there will be more space available for them to attack than what they saw against Turkey.

Thankfully, I have my doubts that Poch and staff will allow the team to underestimate Australia, which is, of course, all that matters. Australia has the ability to exploit us with pace if we aren't careful and responsible with our rotations when getting forward. They are dangerous and organized. My thoughts: this should be an intriguing matchup between two countries not afraid to use the term "soccer."

 

Group D winner gets 6 days rest and gets to play in the moderate climate of Santa Clara.

 

If Australia tries to counter with only 2 players it allows us to push everyone but Ream, Richards, and Adams forward which would be a nightmare for them.
This is going to be a hard game but it seems some fans aren't willing to see the drawbacks of however they think Australia will play.

 

Curaçao was playing so deep against Germany that there was a point where Neuer won a header almost at the center stripe. Something for Frees to consider

 

You know, Lloyd, just when I think you couldn't possibly be any dumber, you go and post something like this... and totally redeem yourself!

Good thing we've got Russell Crowe coaching us.

 

Victim complex.

 

Congrats! I was there for Paraguay, and it was a blast.

 

Annoying things about Australians :

Crocodile Dundee 2 (the original was better)
Fosters - terrible beer
Mistreatment of native tribes
Hugh Jackman - ok, he’s sometimes likable.

 

Hugh Jackman was good in The Fountain. The Aussies also gave us the best action movie of the 21st century (Mad Max Fury Road) and the best actress performance of the 21st century (Naomi Watts in Mulholland Drive).... this on the other hand, "I know those words, but that sign makes no sense."

 

I get that…but if you rest your starters for the knockout game in MD3 the extra rest is kinda moot no?

also - am I wrong or does the group D runner up not play after the winner (3rd vs 1st). And the runner up plays inside in Dallas.

The only plausible argument I can see is if 14 days off is too long mid tournament

 

I don't think we need to be concerned with rest because they have a full week off and then 5 days till game 3.

 

There's no need to rotate for rest in this tournament.

 

Australia played well and got the win, deservedly. Turkey played predictably, but more importantly shot poorly: losing a game 0-2 when you the xG is 1.33 to 0.77. That stat to me is really important. The Aussie goalie played well, but there were 2 shots from in the box that went straight to him basically in the middle of the goal. A ton more shots, though were blocked by defenders - a ton more shots. We need to be more clinical than Turkey, and I think we can be and we need to be more dynamic than Turkey was and I think we are. Not an easy game by any stretch, but certainly doable. And have confidence given how we game-planned and executed vs. Paraguay

I was struck by how many times the Aussie defense just booted the ball away, even before they were ahead by 2 goals. They did not want to be subject to counter pressing it seemed and were willing to just get the ball away. Interesting.

The speed of their forwards though is a concern. Our D needs to be on their best behavior, if one of the Aussie forwards is running at them with the ball or to get a ball over the top. Keeper needs to be very vigilant and accurate about when to come out.