SEATTLE (AP) — Christian Pulisic’s injury absence didn’t hurt the United States one bit.
The Americans advanced to the knockout round of the World Cup without their injured star forward, beating Australia 2-0 on Friday for their second straight victory in the expanded 48-team tournament. The US then won Group D when Paraguay beat Turkey 1-0 early Saturday morning.
“C.P. is a fantastic player — the quality and the leadership that he gives us,” said Folarin Balogun, who scored two goals in the 4-1 victory over Paraguay on June 12. “We didn’t have him today, but I think you saw we’re still capable to go out there and get a result and put up a performance.”
As the Group D winner, the US will play a round-of-32 match on July 1 in Santa Clara, California, against a third-place group finisher.
In the other game in Philadelphia, Matheus Cunha struck the back of the net and struck a pose, bringing scoring — and a dash of surfing — to the World Cup stage for Brazil.
Vinícius Júnior scored and assisted on one of Cunha’s two goals as five-time champion Brazil eliminated Haiti from the World Cup with a 3-0 victory on Friday night.
“To be at a World Cup, to imagine that, it can be so wonderful,” Cunha said. “It’s a dream fulfilled.”
Haiti, the Western Hemisphere’s poorest nation that qualified for the World Cup for the first time since 1974, became the first team guaranteed not to reach the knockout round of the expanded 48-team tournament. Meanwhile, the Seleção got the decisive performance they needed.
Alex Freeman, the youngest player on the team at 21 and the son of former NFL wide receiver and Super Bowl champion Antonio Freeman, made it 2-0 in the 43rd minute off a set piece. Freeman headed in a deflected shot by Sergiño Dest for his first career World Cup goal. The goal was confirmed after a video review.
The U.S. took a 1-0 lead in the 11th minute after a run down the left sideline by Balogun.
He directed a centering pass toward striker Ricardo Pepi, who started in place of Pulisic. The ball never reached Pepi, deflecting off Australia defender Cameron Burgess and into the Socceroos’ net for an own-goal.
