Playing in a home World Cup for the first time since 1994, the United States under Mauricio Pochettino had significant ambitions for this year’s World Cup. As the winners of group D, with a credible path to a late phase in the tournament, those ambitions have nearly been met. After Thursday, we review the action from Groups D-F at the World Cup.<\/p>\n
With six goals through their first two games against Paraguay and Australia, and two goals with a rotated lineup against Turkiye in the third group stage game. The United States has proven it can score goals at an elite level at this World Cup. Game 1 in Los Angeles was a thriller, the US scored early and often, and a brace from Folarin Balogun led to a 4-1 result against Paraguay.<\/p>\n
Two first half goals, and a clean sheet result against Australia clinched a win in Group D, that allowed Pochettino to rest and rotate almost his entire XI for the third game against Turkiye. In that game, the U.S. conceded a late winner to an eliminated Turkey and fell 3-2, showing their backline can be fragile, but they still managed 18 shots on goal.<\/p>\n
Against Bosnia in the round of 32, they will be favored to go through, something that was far from certain when the tournament began. The health of Christian Pulisic, the starting #10 remains a major concern, as the Pulisic and Balogun connection is pivotal<\/a> to their ongoing tournament success. This has been the most entertaining and talented US team in decades.<\/p>\n Three teams advanced from Group D into the last 32, Australia’s win over Turkiye and a dull draw against Paraguay left them on 4 points and in the second-place role. Australia effectively met modest expectations this tournament, with a talented defence and goalkeeper Patrick Beach among the standouts, along with the young strike talent Nestory Irankunda. Australia lack elite talent but they play very organized football and don’t make many mistakes.<\/p>\n Paraguay only scored one goal in their last two games, but they did recover from the shellshock of the loss to the United States to likely advance as a third-place team. Turkiye couldn’t find the back of the net on matchday 2, and Paraguay did what they do best, defending for 90 minutes. Then it was the gentleman’s draw against Australia that was enough to secure the cut line of four points. This is a team that is clearly offensively limited.<\/p>\n Turkiye will go down as one of the big disappointments in the tournament, they peppered opposing goalkeepers with shot attempts but they were counterattacked by Australia, and then couldn’t find a way back against Paraguay. With some lineup changes aganist in a dead rubber game, they suddenly found three goals.<\/p>\n Momentum is a huge factor in football, and that concept will be tested for Germany in the knockout phase. The Germans were off to a winning start, destroying first-time qualifiers Curacao 7-1, before a 2-1 win over Ivory Coast clinched control of the group. Still, a 2-1 loss to a desperate Ecuador side that needed the win to secure a third-place finish, halts their momentum at an inopportune time.<\/p>\n They trailed for 38 minutes against Ivory Coast on matchday 2, before Deniz Undav scored, and then Undav got a late winner to push the result to 2-1 when the match had settled into a draw.\u00a0 On matchday 3, they didn’t heavily rotate their lineup, rather they scored in two minutes on a play that could have been called a foul but wasn’t. From there, they were defensively stifled by an Ecuador side that plays so well on that side of the ball, an xG of 0.65 was far from impressive. Still,\u00a0 Germany remains one of the most talented teams at this World Cup.<\/p>\n Ivory Coast will be proud of their tournament, they played Germany close, scraped a late winner and kept a clean sheet against Ecuador, and then handled their business against Curacao. RB Leipzig’s Yan Diomande is one of the best players in this tournament, and veteran Nicolas Pepe has a pair of goals.<\/p>\n That leaves Ecuador, and what a journey it has been for La Tri. Two disastrous scoreless outings left them in a must win situation against Germany. They worked without result against Ivory Coast on matchday 1, matchday 2 was supposed to be a celebration, but Eloy Room lifted Curacao to its first World Cup point, holding the game to a scoreless draw. Veteran Enner Valencia and the rest of their strikers were wasting<\/a> chances. Against Germany, manager Sebastian Beccacece made changes. Nilson Angulo became a national hero with a golazo of a strike in the 9th minute, finding the net from distance. Then Gonzalo Plata’s right foot off a corner in the 77th minute lit up an entire nation, it will be one of the most remembered goals from this World Cup and the catalyst was Kevin Rodriguez replacing Valencia in the 64th minute to finally apply pressure for La Tri. Moises Caicedo also showed midfield leadership.<\/p>\nEcuador’s Matchday 3 Triumph Overshadows Germany’s Leadership of Group E<\/h3>\n