Christian Pulisic has been ruled out for the United States against Australia tonight.
USA began their World Cup 2026 campaign in perfect fashion, demolishing Paraguay 4-1 in Los Angeles as former Arsenal striker Folarin Balogun scored twice.
The only negative was Pulisic having to be withdrawn at half-time with a calf strain and has been training separately ahead of the Group D showdown, leaving Mauricio Pochettino with no choice but to leave the forward out on matchday two. Ricardo Pepi replaces him.
As for Tony Popovic’s Socceroos, they make a couple of changes to the side that stunned Turkey in their first game, beating the heavily-fancied dark horses 2-0.
Watford’s Nestory Irankunda is their star man off the left flank, and he netted a stunner in the opening game, but he has been benched in favour of Mathew Leckie.
The man on the opposite flank, workhorse Conor Metcalfe, is also sacrificed, with Nishan Velupillay coming in.
The Aussies’ back five against Turkey remained resolute, and that was in part down to centre-backs Harry Souttar and Cameron Burgess, who are well-known names in the EFL.
Jordan Bos and Jacob Italiano both have licence to maraud forward and maintain width as wing-backs.
USA XI: Reese; Freeman, Richards, Ream, Robinson; Adams, Tillman; Dest, McKennie, Pepi; Balogun
Australia XI: Beach; Italiano, Circati, Souttar, Burgess, Bos; Leckie, O’Neill, Okon-Engstler, Velupillay; Toure
Date and time: 8pm BST on Friday, June 19 2026
Venue: Seattle Stadium
How to watch: BBC
