After winning their first World Cup match against Turkey in Group D, Australia came back down to earth on Friday as they lost 2-0 to co-hosts the United States in Seattle after a first-half collapse in which they gave away two goals to give themselves a mountain to climb.
Tony Popovic’s side were the authors of their own downfall, conceding an own goal in the eleventh minute, with Alex Freeman adding a second for the Americans just before half-time. Although the Australians improved in the second half, they never threatened to mount a serious challenge.
«Their quality is clear, their strength is clear, their athleticism is clear. There are no surprises in what they did. We didn’t match that in the first half. We found it difficult to win a challenge, to win a second ball,» Popovic told reporters.
«We were slow on every ball and we couldn’t really get the momentum back, which made it difficult. And look, we conceded a few soft goals, really for us. They were soft goals, but we just looked flat and lethargic in the first half.»
THREE CHANGES
The 52-year-old made three changes at the break and praised his young side for their improvement.
“We don’t have the experience of playing in big leagues and having the minutes under our belt, but the reaction, where it’s easy to crumble under the pressure, physically and emotionally, we responded extremely well to,” he said.
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«I’m really happy with the second half and it would have been nice to score a goal in the moments we had, to see what could happen next. But everyone should be very happy with how they responded after the break.»
Popovic paid tribute to the Americans, who recorded their second win of the tournament and advanced to the knockout stages. «We had to stay in the game better than what we did in the first half, but you have to give them credit too. There is a reason why they are so good,» he said.
The Australians are still in the hunt for the round of 16 and will face Paraguay in their final group match on June 25.
«We showed in the friendlies before (the tournament) and in the match against Turkey that we are a resilient team. And that’s all about recovery now and full focus on Paraguay,» said Australian defender Harry Souttar.
Published on June 20, 2026
