Socceroos coach Tony Popovic's squad have experienced their first defeat at the FIFA World Cup 2026™, losing 2-0 to the USA. The United States held off Australia in Seattle, after getting two goals on the scoreboard in the first half. Despite their best efforts in the second half - aided by Nestory Irankunda, Connor Metcalfe and Cristian Volpato - it wasn't enough. Join your host Haylena Krishnamoorthy for this episode of World Cup Daily | The 90+ Podcast, as she breaks down the Socceroos' second match today. Will Popovic's change his first eleven player selection for their upcoming match against Paraguay?
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TRANSCRIPT:
"And they need to go at the USA. If you're gonna lose, that's fine, but you gotta lose at least, you know, having a go, having some attack, taking a little bit more risk. You know, it was a, it was a risk-averse first half and it cost us."
That's former Socceroo and broadcasting legend, Craig Foster.
I spoke to him at halftime of the USA vs Australia match earlier today, when Socceroos coach Tony Popovic's squad were losing 2-0 to the USA, at their second FIFA World Cup match in Seattle.
"Unfortunately, it was a brilliant first half from USA, similar to their first game against Paraguay. You know, they're very, very strong at home. We knew that from the October game when they beat us. But they had a near perfect half, whereas for Australia, it all went wrong. And so there's a very, very big task ahead from the coaching staff to change this. Change the mentality was a little bit tepid in the first half, losing balls. The pressure from the US team on every, Socceroo, defender when they had the ball, and particularly midfield, was just too high. We couldn't get out of it, people losing the ball, and the result was that we conceded two. It could have been more, actually. But Popovic would've been probably happy to be two-nil at halftime."
The first goal was an own goal by Australia's defender Cam Burgess.
And the second goal was by the US's Alex Freeman at the 43rd minute, after it was checked by a video assistant referee or better known as VAR system for offside.
For those of you wondering what an own goal is, it’s basically when a player accidentally scores against their own team, giving a point to the opposition.
And to explain what the offside rule means - in simple terms - it exists to prevent attackers from waiting near the goal for an easy score.
A player is only offside if they are in the opponent’s half of the pitch, and ahead of the ball and the second-last defender, and the defender doesn't include the team's goalkeeper.
One thing wasn't really clear to me - so I asked Craig Foster what his thoughts were on Popovic's decision of keeping Nestory Irankunda on the bench for the first half of the game.
This was his response.
"I'm not sure why, Popa kept, Irankunda on the bench, given that he was so brilliant in the first game. And the importance of the game against Turkiye was we went one-nil up instead of one-nil down. That's critical when you're, have a defensive style of play. So, you know, I think that decision has probably cost him. He's come on now in the second half to try and chase the game again. That's the most difficult position to be in. Against Switzerland and Mexico in our warm-up games, we, we tried to do the same thing. Very, very tough, but not impossible. We'll get a couple of chances in the second half, and we really desperately need to take them. If we take one and start to put some pressure on them, and get some confidence, which we're gonna need for the third game anyway, then, you know, it, it can be turned around definitely. But it's great to see a little bit more speed on the field."
The Socceroos' had a great start last week - winning their match against Türkiye by 2-nil [[2-0]] in Canada.
Before the match, my SBS colleague Ben Lewis spoke to both Australian and USA fans on the ground, who were cheering on in gold and green outside the stadium.
Ben Lewis: "Do you think Seattle was prepared for what the Australian fans bring?
Voxie: "I honestly don't think so, a lot of my teammates are Americans and I don't think they were prepared for this."
Back home, Australia's fans have been watching closely at pubs and multiple other watch parties, including Federation Square in Melbourne and Tumbalong Park in Sydney.
Craig Foster paints the scene at this morning's watch party in Melbourne.
"Many many thousands of people here at Fed Square at already three thirty, three, three thirty in the morning. Big lines outside. There's been a great atmosphere here. Of course, when Australia concede, you know, it becomes very quiet. It's not the, joyous atmosphere we saw against Turkiye, but that's World Cup football. You know, you can't always win every game. But they're here. They're here in the rain, and they're here in the cold, supporting in their thousands, and they've been absolutely brilliant. They're still here. They're staying. They're gonna stay the full ninety minutes."
But the live sites have also been chaotic.
In Melbourne, 14 flares and one firework was set off at Federation Square prior to the match kicking off which resulted in two people being arrested.
New South Wales Police say two 20 year olds have also been arrested for setting off flares at the Darling Harbour site - and New South Wales Ambulance took one man to hospital after he was hit in the face by a flare.
Meanwhile, there's been lots of questions asked about selections for this game.
Ben Lewis again, after the match, speaking to US and Australian fans on the ground.
Voxie: "You know to be honest I was surprised your number 17 didn't start."
Ben Lewis: "Yeah Irankunda."
Voxie: "So you know, we came out. We came out strong, really quick. We scored an early goal. We kind of set them back, they came back a little bit, but you know we settled in and we got our second."
US manager Mauricio Pochettino spoke after the match, saying he hopes one of the best players in the world - attacker Christian Pulisic - who didn't play today due to an injury - would recover as soon as possible.
"Always difficult because we want to have all the players fit, he's an important player for us - Christian - but that is a team and it was impossible for him today to play, we hope that next time he will be available but if we want to win the competition, we need the whole team, no."
Speaking after the match, Popovic said every game is different and that the Socceroos started slowly in their US match.
"I don't know if it was the occasion but we looked sluggish, heavy-legged, they were quicker, they were more powerful. They won every duel, every second ball and when you do that it makes it very difficult to gain any momentum, and then we conceded two soft goals, but I thought the reaction to the second half was outstanding."
But he says it was an outstanding second half.
"There's a lot of players here for the first time, without that experience, but you also have to also look at the reaction. And the reaction was very good, we did very well in the second half, we created opportunities. We were very aggressive we won all the duels in the second half, so when you do that you have a chance. So that's something to build on for the next match."
Another notable moment from the match was when referee Felix Zwayer suddenly suffered a cramp at the 93rd minute on extra time.
He may constantly be reminded of what happened in the days ahead - and for Australians, they remain hopeful of what is still to come.
"Look you know it was a tough game, they were bloody strong the USA. We couldn't handle it unfortunately, we were hoping for better but we still got Paraguay, We will take it as inebriation. We will put that out of the way, Paraguay 2-nil, 2-nil Paraguay."
A win or draw against the US would have put Australia in a good position to top group D with a game to spare.
Australia's next match will be against Paraguay on 26th June at 12noon.
The outcome of that game could decide the top two of group D - and Australia's Captain Harry Souttar says they can still progress.
"We had opportunities to score, we had chances, I can see a lot of things I don't want to see, just because it's so raw, but I will have to watch the game back before I can comment properly on it."
Popovic has a similar attitude.
"We've got to accept what happened today and I'm really delighted with the second half to be honest, with all the players that came on - they're players that could react that didn't have a good first half, it's a World Cup. We move on to Paraguay and we'll work hard to be ready for that."
And to catch up on the latest games with Scotland vs Morocco, Brazil vs Haiti and Turkiye vs Paraguay today, head on to SBS ON Demand.
I'll be back with you tomorrow with the updates on Netherlands v Sweden, Germany and Ivory Coast, Ecuador and Curacao and Tunisia against Japan.
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