The overall Group D winner could come from this match between the United States men’s national team and Australia following opening victories over Paraguay and Türkiye respectively.
The United States team led by Mauricio Pochettino put in one of the best performances of any nation in the first batch of group stage matches, annihilating Paraguay—a seasoned World Cup qualifier. Australia, meanwhile, secured a more efficient and clinical kind of win.
Anticipation for this matchup between them has been building ever since, as both ride the wave of confidence from the previous games. Victory for one or the other here would all but certainly equate to finishing top of the final group standings. Even a draw is beneficial too, as four points ought to be enough in most scenarios in this tournament format to progress to the knockouts.
The injury news dominating the headlines this week has concerned U.S. talisman Christian Pulisic, electric for 45 minutes against Paraguay six days ago. The AC Milan winger was unable to fully participate in training all week and whether to start him was a risk Pochettino needed to weigh up.
Neither team had any other known injuries beforehand.
Christian Pulisic Ruled Out
It was a risk that Pochettino, likely with an eye on the knockout rounds ahead, did not take. But the team is otherwise unchanged from the one that started against Paraguay.
Ricardo Pepi has the nod to replace Pulisic, beating out Sebastian Berhalter and Gio Reyna. It was Berhalter who was subbed on when Pulisic withdrew against Paraguay, while Reyna scored off the bench when he got into the match a little later on.
Pulisic does not even make the bench this time.
Australia brought wingers Matthew Leckie and Nishan Velupillay into its team in place of both goalscorers from the Türkiye match: Nestory Irankunda and Connor Metcalfe.
USMNT Starting Lineup vs. Australia
Starting XI: Freese; Freeman, Richards, Ream, A. Robinson; Tillman, Adams, McKennie; Dest, Balogun, Pepi.
Subs: Turner (GK), Brady (GK), Trusty, M. Robinson, Arfstein, McKenzie, Scally, Reyna, Berhalter, Roldan, Aaronson, Wright, Weah, Zendejas.
Australia Starting Lineup vs. USMNT
📋 Our official Starting XI to take on the USA is locked in 💪
— CommBank Socceroos (@Socceroos) June 19, 2026
⦿ Two changes to the side that beat Türkiye ✅
⦿ Leckie and Velupillay come in for Irankunda and Metcalfe 🔁
🇺🇸 v 🇦🇺 - 19.6.26 - 12:00pm local
🇺🇸 v 🇦🇺 - 20.6.26 - 5:00am AEST
📱💻📺 Live on SBS & SBS On Demand… pic.twitter.com/xtPWNtcbBR
Starting XI: Beach; Italiano, Circati, Souttar, Burgess, Bos; Leckie, O’Neill, Okon-Engstler, Velupillay; Touré.
