USA vs Australia: Can Pochettino’s men step on the gas?
What happened in Austin?
On Friday night, kicking off at odds of +130 to win the game, the US men’s team was fairly fancied to get the job done against the Ecuadorians, but not for the first time, the Stars and Stripes failed to live up to expectations.
Mauricio Pochettino named an interesting starting XI, leaving the likes of Diego Luna and Christian Pulisic on the bench, while there was also no starting place for the hugely in-form Haji Wright, who somewhat strangely didn’t enter the fold until the 81st minute. In truth, Pochettino’s chosen team didn’t deliver the goods.
During the first half, the Ecuadorians easily dealt with the rather timid offensive efforts of the US, before exposing what must be described as a weak rearguard, scoring through the always reliable Enner Valencia, who pounced on the break.
In the second half, Pochettino’s men fought back, and there were absolutely some promising individual performances, especially from Malik Tillman, while second-half substitute Alex Freeman also made some very positive contributions. However, all in all, the performance was not that of a team looking to do real damage at the upcoming World Cup.
USA vs Australia key details
Following Friday’s game in Austin, it’s off to Colorado for Pochettino and his players. They’ll take on Australia in Commerce City, where the venue will be Dick’s Sporting Goods Park, the home of Major League Soccer's Colorado Rapids.
Here are the key USA vs Australia details:
Date: Tuesday, October 14th
Kick off time: 21:00 EST
Venue: Dick’s Sporting Goods Park, Colorado
Where to watch: HBO Max, Peacock
Socceroos on a long losing run
A quick glance at this fixture and you may be thinking that this is the perfect chance for the US men’s team to sharpen their offensive tools, but under the rather astute leadership of Tony Popovic, the Australians are not easy to beat.
It’s just over a year since Popovic took over as the head coach of the Socceroos. Since then, Tuesday’s visitors have played 11 times. They’ve picked up eight wins and three ties, keeping five clean sheets in the process, conceding more than once in just one out of 11.
Of course, some of Australia’s opponents have been second rate, but not all of them. In fact, Popovic’s men got the better of the Canadians just a few days ago, winning on the road by a goal to zero, showing lots of defensive grit in doing so. When the USMNT faced the Canucks earlier in 2025, they came off second best, so if the Stars and Stripes are to regain the winning thread here, they’ll need to step it up.
Now is the Wright time
As mentioned above, Haji Wright was given minimal time to impress against Ecuador, coming on with less than eight minutes of regulation time remaining.
Given that getting the ball in the back of the net on a regular basis is clearly a problem for Pochettino’s men, now is surely the time to unleash the super in-form forward, who has been scoring for fun in the English Championship, banging in the goals for league leaders Coventry.
Haji Wright is currently the Championship top scorer with eight goals in nine games, and as he looks set for a big season with the club chasing promotion to the Premier League, the 27-year-old might just be the answer to Pochettino’s goal problem. If the Argentine boss can find a way to get Wright into the starting XI and give him time to settle between now and the 2026 World Cup, then the US’s offensive output should shoot up.
Will we see more of Wright on Tuesday evening against the Socceroos? If it was down to me, I’d certainly give the Coventry marksman time to find his range in a Stars and Stripes jersey. Wouldn’t you?
