Two major takeaways from the USMNT's dominant World Cup win over Australia | OneFootball

The USMNT has just convincingly defeated Australia, securing its place in the next round of the World Cup. Mauricio Pochettino faced the difficult task of replacing Christian Pulisic, who missed the match with a calf injury, but the Argentine manager got it right.

Ricardo Pepi played a decent match, being involved in the first goal. At the end of the first half, the USMNT turned back on its engines and scored the second and last goal of the evening.

Without many problems from Australia, the US has qualified for the Round of 16, regardless of what happens in the next games.

Join us to talk about the two major takeaways from this game, because, even though the USMNT won, there is one thing they need to work out.

Folarin Bolagun is special for this World Cup

What the AS Monaco striker is doing makes no sense. Always making himself available in attack, the first goal came from a spectacular run by him. Then he put the physical game against the Australian giants to keep the ball safe and in US power.

Leading the attack without Captain America, Balogun became the offensive leader, always lurking, ready to press and attack the space. He also forced mistakes from opposing defenders. Today he didn’t score, but don’t waste a second thinking he is not a valuable asset.

The USMNT cannot take its foot off the gas

Yes, the US team won this game with ease. However, when the USMNT took its foot off the gas, Australia capitalized on those moments to showcase its quality and threaten the defense.

One particular moment comes to mind in which the defense was caught out of position, and the Australian striker took a run that fortunately ended up on nothing.

But that’s the biggest problem with the USMNT: when they relax, the other team advances. That’s what happened against the Netherlands in 2022, and if they don’t change it now, it might happen again when they face a really good team.