By Dan Catchpole
SEATTLE, June 19 (Reuters) – The United States clinched a spot in the World Cup’s round of 32 with their 2-0 win over Australia, but the team must keep “believing that we can win (and) knowing that we need to go really hard” in each match, U.S. coach Mauricio Pochettino said on Friday.
The U.S. dominated the Socceroos, heavily controlling possession in a physical match with seven yellow cards — three to the U.S. and four for Australia. A key part of the Americans’ offence was 23-year-old Ricardo Pepi, who started in place of the injured Christian Pulisic.
“(Pepi) is for me one of the greatest strikers,” Pochettino said. “He’s getting better every day.”
The U.S. went up 1-0 when Aussie Cameron Burgess scored an own goal trying to block a cross. U.S. defender Alex Freeman buried a header in the net late in the first half to make the score 2-0.
Despite several substitutions in the second half, Australia failed to break through the U.S. back line, which recorded its first clean sheet in nine matches.
The victory over Australia marked the second time the U.S. have won two games in the World Cup group stage. The other time was in 1930, when they beat Belgium and Paraguay.
Paraguay and Turkey, the other teams in Group D, play later on Friday in San Francisco.
(Reporting by Dan Catchpole in Seattle, editing by Ed Osmond)
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