SEATTLE — Just like the Avengers did it without Iron Man, Team USA did it on Friday without Captain America.
The week of drama that ended with Christian Pulisic being declared out with a left calf injury 90 minutes before kickoff Friday ended up feeling irrelevant by the end of a roaring afternoon in Seattle.
The U.S. men’s national team didn’t need its best player to dispatch Australia 2-0, clinching passage into the Round of 32 and putting itself in position to clinch the top spot in Group D by the end of the night, should Paraguay earn a result against Turkey.
It didn’t even need Pulisic to make it look easy.
We knew coming in that the USMNT would dominate possession against a highly physical Australia side.
Mauricio Pochettino threw a curveball, though, by replacing Pulisic with Ricardo Pepi, marking the first time under his tutelage the U.S. has played in a two-striker setup with Pepi and Folarin Balogun.
It worked.
The U.S. stretched Australia’s 5-4-1 formation, letting Weston McKennie rotate with Sergiño Dest on the right side while the two strikers took opportunities to get wide.
Dest was splendid on the ball, taking every opportunity to show off his skill and making up for Pulisic’s absence.
It was Balogun, though, who created the Americans’ opener 11 minutes in, sprinting past his man on the left-side channel and playing a ball in for Pepi.
Instead of reaching its target, Australia’s Cameron Burgess knocked the ball into his own net before Pepi could touch it.
Right before halftime, a VAR intervention helped the Americans double the lead.
After heading in Dest’s deflected shot from the top of the box, Alex Freeman was initially declared offside.
The review showed he was onside when the ball was played, and the 21-year-old Freeman — who didn’t have a single USMNT cap until last June — sprinted to the opposite corner, mobbed by the bench.
The joyous scene played out against the backdrop of what was arguably the best crowd ever seen at a U.S. Soccer match.
Seattle, a soccer-loving town, lived up to its billing.
The city was buzzing the night before and the morning of, the press box shook with every goal, the singing and chanting boomed for much of the afternoon.
If there was a complaint to be had, it’s that the U.S. seemed to play a little more passively in the second half, albeit while playing with a two-goal lead that Australia never seemed like it had the horses to match.
Indeed, even while playing defense for much of the second half, the U.S. kept a clean sheet for the first time since a Sept. 9 friendly against Japan.
The Socceroos physicality, a storyline coming into the match, did indeed create some issues.
Antonee Robinson picked up a yellow card 56 minutes in for a challenge on Jacob Italiano, Freeman was repeatedly on the wrong end of borderline challenges, and Balogun was booked for putting Harry Souttar in a headlock with minutes to go.
Chris Richards picked up a yellow in stoppage time for good measure.
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Along with Tyler Adams, Richards, Robinson and Balogun will need to avoid a second yellow in the final group stage match against Turkey, lest they be suspended for the Round of 32.
Australian coach Tony Popovic’s decision to bench Nestory Irankunda, the speedy attacker who scored against Turkey, was bizarre in the moment and the mistake was tacitly admitted when Irankunda came on at halftime.
Pochettino, by contrast, hit every note perfectly.
He’s gambled repeatedly both in the yearlong leadup to this World Cup and during it; playing Pepi alongside Balogun was only the latest.
He keeps on getting it right.
And under his tutelage, the U.S. has won consecutive games at a World Cup for the first time since 1930.
The Americans were semifinalists 96 years ago in Montevideo, their best ever result at a World Cup.
They’re dreaming now.
