USA vs Australia live online: updates, score, goals and highlights, Pulisic ruled out| 2026 World Cup Group D

Assist leader out

I don't think I need to sit here and remind you just how important Pulisic is to this US side. He is the star, and he is the engine in the attack. Not only that, but he is also the US team’s all time assist leader in the World Cup. Who is going to fill those shoes today in Seattle.

Jameis is bringing the noise

If there's a party to be had, you want Jameis Winston at the party. The NFL QB has been one of the faces of this World Cup and he was getting the crowd amped for this massive match up in Seattle. 

Richard's return

Chris Richards returned to the XI after suffering an injury at the end of the Premier League season. He missed the last few games of the league campaign, and the Conference League Final against Rayo Vallecano. The was named to the squad but missed the two tune ups and there were concerns around his fitness. He started against Paraguay, and had a perfect match. Every challenge he made was spot on. On top of that he didn’t miss a single pass in the 4-1 win. There was a lot to be excited about last week, but Richards might have been the best bit of news.

USMNT's 4-2-3-1

Poch is going with Freese in goal, Freeman, Richards, Ream and Robinson in the back. Tillman and Adams are the holding midfielders with Dest, McKinnie and Pepi on the left side right behind Balgun as the No. 9. 

Mexico first to win group 

We are just over a week into the tournament but we already have a team that have qualified for the next round and clinched the top spot in the group. That team would be Mexico who beat South Korea on Thursday night and secured themselves passage into the round of 32. The US and Australia both have a chance to do the same with a win today, 

How the hosts are fairing 

So far so good for the host nations. Mexico just won their second straight game to start their World Cup campaign. Defensively they are playing nearly perfect and they have the right amount of attacking flair to make their fans believe. The US can continue their dream start to the World Cup today with a win over Australia that would clinch them the group. Meanwhile Canada had a historic day putting 6 past Qatar as they took the lead in Group B. The winner of that group will come down to who wins the Canada Switzerland match next week. 

Who are the favroites after 9 days

Like the Rankings, the oddsmakers favorites have seen some changes at the top and in the middle. The USMNT came into this tournament as 60/1 long shots according to Bet365. They are still long shots, but that has dropped to 41/1 long shots after their impressive win over Paraguay. Australia are 81/1 long shots but who knows how that could change if they pull off a win here from Seattle. France take the top spot paying 9/2 while Spain dropped to 7/1 odds after their draw with Cape Verde. England are also 7/1 to win it all while Argentina are 9/1 to repeat. 

FIFA World Ranking

The ever-changing FIFA Rankings have seen some tweaks and some changes over the last 8 days. One thing remains the same, and that is that Argentina continue to top the table after their 3-0 win to start their World Cup campaign. France have jumped Spain and England remain fourth. Portugal have dropped two spots, as Brazil and Morocco sit in 5th and 6th while the Netherlands, Germany and Belgium round out the top 10. Mexico are 11th after their win over Korea last night and the US are sitting in 15th place. The Aussies aren’t too far behind. They are currently 22nd in the FIFA World Rankings and can boost their position with a win over the USMNT today. 

Australia XI

The Socceroos are out on the pitch and warming up. Coach Popovic has his XI for this massive match up and it looks a little something like this. 

World Cup 2026

USMNT confirmed lineup vs Australia: Mauricio Pochettino’s XI for crucial Group D match

Pulisic update

There was a question of would he or won't he. This is the biggest game of the group stage, and if it wasn't something that the US are worried could get worse he would be out there. Poch and his staff are going to proceed with plenty of caution. Our Williams Gittens has more. 

Socceroos World Cup history 

The Socceroos get their name for obvious reasons. Don't think I need to explain the origins too much but I might need to break down the Aussies history in this competition. They have been in the World Cup seven times, including each of the last six tournaments. They first made the World Cup in 1974 but then had to wait until 2006 to make their return. They have made it past the group stage just twice in their history. The first of which came in their return to the World Cup in 2006 but they lost to Italy by a penalty in the 95th minute in the round of 16. They made it past the group stages in Qatar as well but would eventually lose to Argentina 2-1 in the round of 16. Both of those teams that beat Australia went on to win the World Cup. 

World Cup 2026

USMNT vs Australia: strengths, weaknesses and the Socceroos threat in World Cup 2026

USMNT vs Australia: strengths, weaknesses and the Socceroos threat in World Cup 2026

Maybe you weren't watching that game back in October. Perhaps you didn’t stay up to watch the Aussies beat Türkiye last week. You may not know everything thing there is to know about this Australia team, but lucky for us, Roddy Cons does. 

Last match up

It wasn't too long that these two teams met for a friendly match from Colorado. The match was played in October of last year and the Aussies went up a goal to the good in the 19th minute thanks to a Jordan Bos goal. Christian Pulisic was subbed out of that game in the first half after suffering a minor knock, but Haji Wright equalized in the 33rd minute. Wright doubled his account in the 51st minutes and the US held on for a 2-1 win from Dick’s Sporting Goods Park. 

Seattle Stadium 

If Sofi Stadium was wild last week, just wait until today. We are in Seattle Stadium which is home of the Seattle Seahawks. The fan base in Seattle is knows as the 12s and they played an instrumental part of the Seahawks Super Bowl run this season. They are the nosiest fans in the NFL, and the stadium here in the Pacific Northwest aids them with it's acoustics and its structure that locks in the noise. The first match was unlike anything we had seen for the USMNT in terms of support, but today it’s only going to get bigger and louder. 

Poch on US fans 

The anticipation and excitement was palpable in Sofi Stadium last week. The opening match of the USMNT's World Cup campaign was preceded by a star studded opening ceremony and the buzz carried over into the match. It helped that the US went up 1-0 early on but the energy in Sofi Stadium was incredible and Mauricio Pochettino sent a warning to the rest of the sports in the US, claiming they better watch out because soccer is coming. 

USMNT XI

Just one change in the XI from the game against Paraguay. It's the injured Pulisic out for Ricardo Pepi. While Captain America is out, Pepi is an incredible second option to replaced the AC Milan winger Here is the XI for Poch.

Freese

Dest

Richards

Adams

Robinson

McKinnie

Pepi

Ream

Freeman

Tillman

Balogun

Star watch: Australia 

When you look down the 26 man squad of Tony Popovic, you don't really see any stars of big clubs for the Aussies. Some play in the Championship in England. Some play in Italy or Champions League clubs from smaller countries around the continent but unless you really follow soccer, and Australian soccer at that, you won’t know a whole lot about this side. Nestroy Irankunda is the face of the future for Australia. He is 20 years old and playing for Watford in the Championship. After scoring 4 goals in the league he scored his first World Cup goal against Türkiye and will look to keep that going here tonight. 

Star watch: USA 

We could sit here and talk about Christian Pulisic all day long, but we have done that for a long time in the build up to this World Cup and to the Paraguay game. So lets shift focus a bit. Folarin Balogun snatched headlines in the 4-1 win over Paraguay with a first half brace, and looked like the most dangerous man on the pitch in the opener. He plays in Ligue 1 with Monaco and is coming off a season in which he scored 13 goals and served 3 assists in the league and scored 5 goals in the Champions League. The bigger the stage, the better Balogun plays. 

Poch pumped after win 

The entire nation is pumped about the possibility of this team making a historic run in a tournament co-hosted right here at home. Coach Poch is one of those believers, and after beating Paraguay he is not trying to limit expectations. He's going for it all, and he wants his team to believe that they can win it all after their showing in the first match. “We should dream without limits,” he said. “If I dream of touching the moon, maybe I can get close to the moon. If I only dream of getting close to it, I'll stay on Earth.”

US XI against Paraguay 

The US XI came out against Paraguay and attacked from the very start. The subs also came on and played well in the second half of the match, but I would be surprised if Mauricio Pochettino tinkered with the XI fro last week too much. Obviously with Pulisic out today, things will be a little different. This is what it looked like against Paraguay. What will it look like against Australia?

Freese 

Dest

Richards 

Adams 

Robinson

McKinnie 

Pulisic 

Ream 

Freeman 

Tillman 

Balogun

Group D Standings 

Coming into today, we see these two teams are at the top of the table and quite simply the winner of todays game will go to the top of the group and win it if the late game ends in a draw. Türkiye and Paraguay have their work cut out for them after round 1 losses and whoever losses that match later on tonight will have little to no chance of advancing to the Round of 32. Here is the remaining schedule in Group D. 

Schedule

Friday, June 19, 3 p.m. (Fox): United States vs. Australia, Lumen Field (Seattle)

Friday, June 19, 11 p.m. (FS1): Türkiye vs. Paraguay, Levi's Stadium (Santa Clara, California)

Thursday, June 25, 10 p.m. (Fox): Türkiye vs. United States, SoFi Stadium (Inglewood, California)

Thursday, June 25, 10 p.m. (FS1): Paraguay vs. Australia, Levi's Stadium (Santa Clara, California)

Last game: Australia 

Not much was expected from Australia coming into this World Cup campaign. They went up against a Türkiye side that many people were considering to be the top contender of the US in Group D. The Aussies showed their defensive capabilities by keeping a clear sheet on an attacking minded Türkiye side. Nestor Irankunda had a brilliant run into the area before slotting it past the Turkish keeper for the 1-0 in the 27th minute. The Aussies would double their lead with a Connor Metcalf goal in the 75th minute to close the match out and take three points in the first match of the tournament. 

Pulisic out against Australia

Christian Pulisic was pulled off at the halftime break of the Paraguay match and many thought it might have just been a precautionary move by Poch with a 3-0 lead coming out of the break. It turns out that he did take a knock to the calf which has been monitored throughout the week. He trained with the team over the last few days but has officially been ruled out of this match against Australia. It will be Ricard Pepi replacing him in the XI. 

Last game: USA

The Paraguay couldn't have gone much better if they gave coach Pochettion a pen and paper and asked him to write out the script. The USMNT put the first goal of their World Cup campaign on the board seven minutes into the match but it wasn’t a US player that got the first goal. It was Christian Pulisic creating on the left side but Bobadilla got the last touch and poked it into his own goal. Folarin Balogun had a first half brace with a couple of really good goals, and it was Gio Reyna finishing with the outside of the foot to put the cherry on top of a delicious performance from the USMNT.

We are live from the Pacific Northwest 

Hello everyone and welcome to Seattle, Washington where the USMNT have a chance to win the group just two match days in to this tournament, but so do the Socceroos who came up with what many consider a shock defeat of Türkiye. Now the two sides at the top of the group will go head to head for a chance to win the group. The fans, the players and the nation came out of the first game of the World Cup in full belief of this side, but a loss to Australia could cost them more than the top spot in the group, it was erase the belief that has been growing since the Paraguay game. 

USA vs. Australia: Round 2, Group D 

After one of the most convincing victories in the first round of group stages the USMNT gave fans reason to believe in this team. The hype is real, but now so is the expectation after seeing what this team is capable of. Today they have to keep the train rolling against an Australia team who is battling the US for the top spot in the group and AS English will be with you all afternoon providing live coverage, stats highlights and analysis of this crucial match up at the top of Group D.