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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
Sport
Jack Snape

USMNT World Cup opponent watch: unpredictability is Australia’s greatest asset

USMNT Jordan Bos Socceroos Australia World Cup Haji Wright Sergiño Dest Mo Touré Nestory Irankunda Tete Yengi
Aiden O'Neill of Australia marks Christian Pulisic of the USMNT during a friendly in October 2025.
Australia and the USMNT met last October in a friendly in Colorado, where the Americans won 2-1. Photograph: Omar Vega/Getty Images

It is the showdown to determine the world’s best “soccer”-playing nation: the much-anticipated Group D clash between two countries in which football has more than one meaning.

Neither will be distracted by nomenclature, however, when the United States run out against Australia in Seattle on Friday in a contest set to captivate both sides of the Pacific.

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