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After Mauricio Pochettino’s passionate half-time speech last October, the USA shaped up and started on the path to a rematch against the Australians in SeattleHaji Wright’s finish was cool, but Mauricio Pochettino’s reaction was cooler. It was the 35th minute of the US men’s national team’s friendly against Australia last October, and the Coventry City striker had just equalized after Jordan Bos put the Socceroos up earlier in the half. Wright celebrated by walking calmly away, while his coach had a blank expression on the sideline.Pochettino’s mind may have been on Australia’s aggressive approach, including one challenge that forced Christian Pulisic out of the match midway through the first half. Or he may have been focused on his team’s reaction.“[Pochettino] wasn’t too happy with letting them punch us in a way, without punching back,” Wright said this week. The Argentinian made his feelings known in a passionate half-time speech, captured in part on a recent docuseries covering the team’s journey to the World Cup. The pep talk was forceful enough to have had an impact even on the players who did not hear it first-hand.“You could tell by the reaction of the guys,” said Brenden Aaronson, who was out on the field warming up to come on as a sub during the speech. The US matched Australia’s intensity in the second half, securing the first of three straight wins that sent them into 2026 with positive momentum.“Even though he’s Argentinian, he has that mindset of like, look, this is what we do, you know, and this is who we are, and this is what America’s about,” Sebastian Berhalter said. “We’re American, and we don’t take shit.”Now, almost exactly eight months after that last meeting between the teams, the US and Australia meet again on Friday on soccer’s grandest stage.The World Cup, of course, is a different beast than a friendly, no matter how intense the competition may have been. The US starting lineup is sure to look different – the only holdovers from that friendly in the World Cup opener against Paraguay were Weston McKennie in midfield, Chris Richards anchoring the backline, and Matt Freese in goal. Cristian Roldan assisted Wright on both goals in the friendly; it would be a surprise if either player starts on Friday, even with the game coming in Seattle, where Roldan is a favorite among the fans of his MLS team, the Sounders.Australia, meanwhile, saw just four changes between that friendly and last week’s win against Turkey. Leicester City center-back Harry Souttar captained the side after missing the friendly, Patrick Beach enjoyed a standout performance in goal after replacing longtime incumbent Mathew Ryan, Paul Okon-Engstler comes into midfield, and Mo Touré starts up top instead of Nick D’Agostino.The personnel that remain, though, highlight the areas the US may once again find dangerous. Nestory Irankunda, who knifed through the US defense on a few occasions last October, had a great start to his World Cup with a goal and a Man of the Match award in the win over Turkey. His pace on the counter was cited by multiple US players as a primary danger this week, along with Australia’s comfort without the ball. The Socceroos held just 30% of possession against Turkey, but were able to cause danger against the run of play consistently – a slightly different approach than the one they employed in October.“Speaking to the boys who played in October, they said the game against Turkey looked completely different than how they played them last camp,” Antonee Robinson said.“To me, it seems like they’re more fine tuned,” Wright said. “They looked really good defensively. They look really stable. They didn’t look like Turkey were able to really get behind them very much. That’ll be a challenge for us to break them down.”Midfielder Tyler Adams called the match “one of the most difficult games we’ll play,” adding that Australia are “combative,” “smart,” and “unbelievably tactically sound.”The challenge now, then, is for the US to match Australia’s aggression just as they did after half-time in the teams’ last meeting.“You could see that they were up for it, and they were putting in challenges, and I think that’s when Mauricio had the half-time rant,” said Berhalter, who was not a part of the team that day but noticed a striking similarity between the US and the Socceroos. “You like teams that have that brotherhood, you like teams that, when you go against them, you can see, they’re hungry and that they want to fight. It makes you, you know, raise your level that much more.”

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The US star was on a ‘modified’ training schedule for the third day in a row after coming out at half-time in the opener. Other options must be consideredMauricio Pochettino now has the privilege of giving the new World Cup format a practical test.The Argentinian wisely played it safe at half-time of the United States’ 4-1 thrashing of Paraguay, pulling Christian Pulisic before his calf could be kicked any more. The attacking midfielder said after the match that he had taken similar punishment before, and he was optimistic he would be fit for the next match. As of Wednesday, he was still training away from his teammates and wearing a sleeve on his left calf.And so, Pochettino must weigh a question many have wondered since Fifa announced this would be the first World Cup with 48 teams. How much will teams gamble with players’ fitness after securing the three points many expect should be enough to ensure safe passage to the round of 32? The team’s strong performance against Paraguay has US fans thinking about the long game. But the Americans could find themselves on the end of some hefty challenges when they face an Australian team who have clearly been irritated by disparaging comments about the Socceroos in the US media. All this with control of Group D on the line too.All of this could be posturing, of course. Keeping Pulisic off to the side during training could invite the slightest bit of uncertainty into Australia’s preparations after such a decisive first US performance in their opener. It’s the World Cup, where the smallest of advantages must be found.But even so, such was the emphatic nature of their opening win that the United States may want to protect Pulisic from harm in their remaining group games. But it’s not as simple as that: there’s no like-for-like replacement for Pulisic.Gio Reyna last logged a 60-minute shift for club or country on 19 December 2025. But after his incredible late goal against Paraguay, one can’t rule out the possibility of a larger role against Australia.While he continues to struggle to establish himself at the club level, Reyna’s rare talent kept him in Pochettino’s rotation as the Argentinian tested alternatives in midfield. Reyna would help the US with ball retention – he has proven technical acumen in tight areas – and his incisive passing comes in handy against well-organized defensive structures.Reyna came off at half-time of the May friendly against Senegal, then entered as a substitute against Germany (30 minutes) and Paraguay (nine minutes). Reyna was originally expected to be a super-sub given his lack of time for his club, Borussia Mönchengladbach. But Pulisic’s injury and Reyna’s own heightened confidence could make him an option to start against Australia.Pochettino could still unleash Reyna against Australia after they’ve been adequately tired out by the industrious Brenden Aaronson. The 25-year-old was a key figure in Leeds’s return season to the Premier League, bringing tireless off-ball movement and pressing and steadily improving his end product. Still, it’s the stuff away from the box score that has endeared him to the coaches he has played under. Aaronson is the kind of player who makes the team around him a little bit better due to his thankless efforts.Then again, Aaronson hasn’t been a regular part of Pochettino’s teamsheets. No outfield player earned less time in March camp than Aaronson’s 11 minutes, while he logged just 18 against Germany and didn’t leave the bench against Paraguay. His lack of goals and assists for the US have been an issue, but he could open up more space for Folarin Balogun, Weston McKennie and others while tenderizing Australia’s defense.With Balogun now a priority for opponents to mark, Pulisic has relished having more time and space on the ball over the last three games as opponents drop deeper. Often, he’s now the US’s second-greatest scoring threat when everyone is available: a crucial second proven option to make opponents sweat their rotations in the final third. While Reyna’s worldie against Paraguay showcased his finishing chops, neither he nor Aaronson could replicate Pulisic’s threat in front of goal.It could be time for Tim Weah to return to the lineup. A versatile option who can play along the right flank, Weah also rose up the youth ranks as a center-forward and can credibly play a slightly wider interpretation of an attacking midfield role. The reality is that the US haven’t played identically in any consecutive games of the Pochettino era, both in terms of style and often of formation. The trick is to combine the right roles to put it all together in a roster with plenty of chemistry and movement.Weah thrived in a break behind Wales’s backline at the last World Cup, nimbly prodding home his team’s first goal in Qatar. It may require McKennie to shift to the left in that attacking midfield line, but getting Weah on the field adds another capable shooter to the mix.Pulisic’s presence and McKennie’s impact in a more advanced role has recently shunted Malik Tillman back a line. He’s made an incredible first impression despite little prior experience in central midfield, a key link in the US’s unbalanced midfield. Tillman played the joint second-most progressive passes (eight) and led the US with five balls played into the opponent’s box against Paraguay, per Futi, including his assist on Balogun’s second goal of the night.When the US last faced Australia, none of the four attacking midfielders listed above had an assist. Instead it was Cristian Roldan who scythed up the channel to provide Haji Wright with a pair of assists. For much of the last year, Pochettino has shown Sebastian Berhalter even greater trust to break lines. Berhalter is also the roster’s dead-ball specialist, another factor to consider, since Pulisic still takes the occasional set-piece.Tillman and McKennie could then operate in the advanced line in tandem while one of Berhalter or Roldan could help Tyler Adams in the engine room. In a game that could be hard-fought, that extra bit of midfield steel could go a long way toward staying in control of proceedings.

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Former USMNT players have disparaged AustraliaAustralia and US face each other on FridayFormer US players, perhaps caught up in the swell of confidence brought about by the team’s 4-1 romp over Paraguay in their World Cup opener, have fired barbs at Australia, their next opponents. The Socceroos have fired back. And current US players are having none of it.“All this talk is just nonsense to me,” US winger Tim Weah told the media on Tuesday, seconds after rolling his eyes and giving an incredulous look when told about comments from US pundits describing Friday’s match as a “layup,” or that the Australian team itself is “average.”“When you look at the Australian team, they’re a young team that has a lot of fight, a lot of grit, and a lot of hunger, just like us,” Weah said. “We respect them in the same way that we respect any other opponent. I think it’s going to be a lovely game. I don’t know what the media is trying to do, but we’re not really focused on that.”The comments have come most directly from three former USMNT players. After the draw placed the US in Group D with Australia, Turkey and Paraguay, former US striker Landon Donovan called Australia coach Tony Popovic “smug,” adding “you can get back on the Qantas airplane and head back home, pal.”Fox Sports commentator and US World Cup veteran Alexi Lalas said Australia are “an average team by any measure, and certainly not a great team.” CBS Sports pundit Mike Grella, in comments that most inflamed the Socceroos, called Friday’s match a “layup” for the US.Australia’s players have taken note. “I mean, I’ve seen all the US stuff, and I’m just sick of it, to be honest I just am,” Metcalfe said this month. “Like all this talk – it’s just – let’s just wait for the game, whatever happens, happens.”Tyler Adams attempted to act as a peacemaker on Tuesday.“I don’t think any commentary helps anybody,” the US midfielder said. “It’s not going to be a layup. If anything, it’s going to be one of the most difficult games we play.”The US got a measure of what a match against Australia will be like in 2025, in a fiery 2-1 win in Colorado. That match, ostensibly a friendly, was notable for scuffles between the two sides – an experience that US players say has given them a preview of what’s to come.“That game in Colorado was fun,” said Weah, who started and went 64 minutes in that game. “It was aggressive, and I think from that game in Colorado we’ve changed a lot, and we’ve got a bit more aggressive as well … I’m someone who respects Australia a lot.”

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A Liverpool fan and an influencer explain what it’s like to be hired for a Truman Show-style experimentWhen Kevin Kotoko heard that he had been selected as one of Fox’s chief World Cup watchers he had no hesitation in accepting. What self-respecting football fan could turn down the opportunity to be paid $50,000 (£37,000) to take in all 104 games at this World Cup, after all?The only issues were that he would have to watch every match in a custom-built viewing cube in the heart of Times Square and let his employers know that he wouldn’t be coming in for work the next day. “I quit my job,” admits Kotoko, a Liverpool fan who is from Florida and was working as a waiter in a restaurant. “I found out on Thursday that I had won the competition and so I told them on Friday that would be my last day!”He is sharing the giant fishbowl for the next six weeks with Austin Franklin after they were selected from thousands of applicants who uploaded videos on social media pitching for the role. Both are expected to “create social media content, record their reactions, and engage with fans” throughout the tournament as part of the deal.According to Franklin, who describes himself as an influencer from Philadelphia, it has been a surreal but enjoyable experience so far.“It has really felt a bit like being on the Truman Show,” Franklin says. “I forget at times that we’re here. I’m watching a game for minutes and then I look over at Kevin and I see people on top of me. It’s like: ‘Oh my God!’ There’s 30 people watching us, watching games, most of the time. It is a weird experience.”Kotoko adds: “We’re trying to stay authentic in the process of the job, I guess. So it’s finding that balance between making sure we’re engaged with the game, but also showcasing what we’re doing.”Their presence in one of the city’s busiest thoroughfares has certainly attracted plenty of interest. One curious onlooker was overheard asking whether they are living in the cube for the whole tournament, while Franklin reveals that the most common question they have been asked is where do they go to the toilet. “I like the idea of finding it,” Franklin says. “That’s kind of fun for me. I’ve got 15 minutes to be, like, ‘all right, let’s see where I can find me a bathroom today.’”There are facilities at the swanky hotel both are staying at around the corner, with food inspired by each participating nation also being served up inside the cube. When the Guardian visited for the opening match of the tournament between Mexico and South Africa, there was a carnival atmosphere outside as the co-hosts swept to a convincing victory and both watchers partied on the streets afterwards.“There was a woman who sat right behind me in one of those chairs for the entire 90 minutes, and I went up to her and said: ‘Thank you so much for your time’,” says Franklin. “I gave her a big hug, and she told me about how she was born in Mexico, moved to New York, and used to watch all the Mexico games with her dad. Her dad passed away a few years ago, so I was like: ‘You’re going to make me cry’. So now I’m like that’s a team that I want to do well. You feel this connection and that’s what the World Cup is all about.”Both have high hopes for the United States too after their excellent start against Paraguay. “I think the expectation is they can get into the quarter-finals at least. Then, who knows?” says Kotoko. “This is our golden generation so I think you should put that pressure on them.”The unprecedented and unrelenting schedule of the expanded 48-team tournament means this will be a marathon and not a sprint. For the next three weeks there are four games every day stretching across three time zones as the group stages continue and both are fully aware of the challenge that schedule will pose.“I think it’s just, like, trying to feed ourselves and making sure that we’re trying to keep the energy up, making sure we’re taking care of ourselves,” says Kotoko, who is also hoping that Ghana can make an impression at this World Cup, having been born there.“I mean, I’m sitting on a couch, watching football. It’s pretty fun,” says Franklin. “There is something about the spirit of the World Cup that takes over. We have pretty much the perfect job.”

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Against Paraguay, the Monaco striker provided the ruthless finishing the USMNT have often missed in recent yearsEven after they conceded an early goal on Friday, Paraguay kept affording the United States ample room up the channel. As the ball reached Malik Tillman and Weston McKennie in midfield, their disoriented opponents never quite seemed to know how to station themselves to stem the tide. The US’s off-ball movement further complicated those efforts, dizzying Paraguay’s defense before it could establish an ideal structure.“I just tried to run in behind,” McKennie said after the US had completed their 4-1 victory. “I think I realized early on that they were struggling to follow my deep runs. If it’s not broken, don’t fix it. I keep trying to do it until they figure something out. I was able to find more space than usual, and it was fun. I really enjoyed to get on the ball as much as I did.”Throughout a remarkable first half, the heart of the park seemed fully in the co-hosts’ control. The spacing between Tyler Adams and the more advanced tandem of McKennie and Tillman seldom proved an issue as Paraguay struggled to position themselves in the passing lanes. In those rare moments, the US weren’t shy to recirculate, knowing the on-ball acumen of the defensive trio.Throughout the 2022 World Cup, the US at times resembled a club team, in part because of how effectively their midfield trio operated. In Qatar, Adams and McKennie were joined by Yunus Musah for an “MMA” engine room that kept the ball moving and shifted itself accordingly to be sturdy when defending. Musah’s club career has since stagnated and he was barely in contention for this summer’s World Cup, but Tillman’s progress and the emergence of others – such as Johnny Cardoso, Sebastian Berhalter, Tanner Tessmann and Aidan Morris – made Musah’s regression a non-issue for Mauricio Pochettino.While the personnel have changed, the dimensions of the field have not. The extra spaces McKennie scampered into on Friday weren’t due to some quirk concocted by this summer’s co-hosts. It’s an evolution of Pochettino’s design, built on the back of the progress of the US’s best players since Qatar.By the time the Copa América came around in 2024, the midfield seemed to be the only dependably functional facet of Gregg Berhalter’s USMNT. Teams could operate in a low-to-mid defensive block, allowing the US to advance into the attacking half where they’d quickly run out of ideas. It had become clear that the system was designed to funnel the attack through Christian Pulisic, and opponents planned accordingly.The one real boon to emerge from getting grouped at the Copa was the validation of Chris Richards’s bona fides. At that point, he had two seasons under his belt with Crystal Palace, but only became a regular starter along their backline after Oliver Glasner arrived in February 2024. Richards’s partnership with Tim Ream kept the US in games, but wasn’t enough to produce positive results against Panama and Uruguay.Richards has since evolved further. He’s become even more vital to Palace since Marc Guéhi’s departure, and logged the most minutes of any player in the club’s triumphant 2024-25 FA Cup campaign. He was similarly regular as the club captured the Uefa Conference League this past season.Richards has gained confidence from his success with Palace as well as his recovery from an ankle injury sustained late in the season, and he didn’t put a foot wrong against Paraguay. He set a World Cup record for passes with a 100% success rate (83), and worked with Adams to assess the Paraguayan structure before dishing off to Ream (to his left) or Alex Freeman (to his right) to begin the next advance upfield.“It felt good,” Richards told the Guardian in the mixed zone. “Honestly, I wasn’t second guessing myself. That was the main thing. Playing with pain’s OK as long as I’m not second-guessing myself.”Up the field was the US’s most vital newcomer of this World Cup cycle. Folarin Balogun’s commitment to the US – despite his eligibility for England and Nigeria – was a massive coup for a program that operated without a dependable striker from 2016 to 2023. Famous for his finesse, Balogun isn’t shy to outmuscle opponents and buy his teammates time to get into dangerous positions.Balogun’s upbringing in Arsenal’s academy has given him exceptional movement and excellent reading of the game. As McKennie and Tillman navigated the channels, Balogun could comfortably drift into the correct spots to get the service he needed, giving Paraguay goalkeeper Orlando Gill plenty of practice at picking the ball out of his net.Without the gauntlet of Concacaf qualifying, and given the team’s inconsistency throughout Pochettino’s reign, there was understandable cause for concern that this group wasn’t ready for the World Cup. After several weeks refining their movement, the US were more than comfortable shunting the ball up and down their lines to keep control of the game. It didn’t take long for the fans at Los Angeles Stadium to break into the polite applause that accompanies savvy recirculation.Joining big clubs hasn’t always worked for this generation of US players. Musah’s move to Milan ultimately set back his development: he never settled into one role as the club changed coaches with regularity after his arrival in 2023. Gio Reyna’s struggles cost him precious refinement with Dortmund and Mönchengladbach.But right now, the US have the type of players they have often missed in the past. They have Richards, a defensive anchor who was vital to his club’s FA Cup and Conference League titles. And they have Balogun, a striker who, despite some dry spells, ranked fourth on Ligue 1’s goalscoring charts.Opponents have to contend with Balogun while still facing the threat of Pulisic, who led Milan in goals just a year ago and has been in rare form since the Senegal friendly at the end of May. Reyna provided a timely reminder of why the program remains so optimistic about him in spite of scarce usage at the club level. McKennie (Juventus) and Adams (Bournemouth) have established themselves as vital midfielders for Europa League qualifiers.Of course, plenty of other nations can go toe to toe with the US on talent. The US’s Group D rivals, Turkey, will arguably be the first such foe they face. The Turks have dazzling attackers who ply their trade at Real Madrid and Juventus, the brilliant Hakan Çalhanoğlu pulls the strings, and the tidy Merih Demiral is in defense. By the round of 16 the US will probably resume underdog status, and Belgium, France and Spain could fall in the same side of the bracket should the co-hosts top their group.But there’s time for the US to build a head of steam as they consider those obstacles. Fans should thank their stars for birthright citizenship – without it, the US would still be without Balogun, a striker who can stretch the field and make life easier for his teammates.

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Lima police dress as mascots in raid on suspectZayu the Jaguar left out of police operationWhile tensions between Canada and the United States have risen in the last few years as Donald Trump has made threats to turn his northern neighbor into a 51st state of America, there has been some mutual cooperation in crime fighting.Earlier this week, Clutch the Bald Eagle and Maple the Moose – the mascots for the United States and Canada respectively at this year’s World Cup – helped Peruvian police in a drugs raid.Officers in Lima dressed as the mascots broke through a gate before arresting a suspect.“Thanks to the intelligence work carried out by the team, we were able to establish that the person we were about to arrest was a die-hard football fan, living and breathing the World Cup fever,” colonel Carlos Fredy Alcántara Obregón, head of the police’s Green Squad, told the Associated Press.“So we proceeded to disguise my Green Squad personnel as World Cup mascots in order to approach him without arousing suspicion and make the arrest.”Clutch and Maple would appear to be the perfect candidates for the drugs raid, even though they are fictional characters and do not have visas to work in Peru. According to Fifa, Clutch “leads by action – rallying teammates, lifting spirits and turning every challenge into an opportunity to rise higher” making him an ideal leader in high-pressure situations such as drug raids. Maple, meanwhile, is “a street style-loving artist” meaning the moose can blend effortlessly into Lima’s demi-monde.The other World Cup mascot, Zayu the Jaguar, doesn’t work Wednesdays, so was unavailable for the raid.

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Every World Cup needs its hosts to start well, more so this one, and Mauricio Pochettino’s team delivered on a fun day on the Pacific coastThe ball is magic, remember. Just keep watching the ball. On a lovely soft powder blue night in Los Angeles the World Cup produced an opening act on its US front that might have been conjured by the whirling hands of Gianni Infantino himself, a Fifa president who increasingly has the air and the mannerisms of an elite celebrity stage magician. Or at the very least, of a man who appreciates the power of the show.It turns out California really does know how to put on one of those. There was even a moment before kick-off that seemed to capture the cosmically strange nature of the entire Fifa multiverse. A little later the headline act Katy Perry would appear in a silver bustle and perform on a podium alongside a 10-year-old TikToker.Before that we got Korean pop sensation Lisa, who has 105 million Instagram followers, or 102.5 million more than the USMNT, backed by a troupe of men performing surprisingly sexualised hip thrusts and groin grabs that no doubt express, on some deeper level, the value of international team sport.Adjacent to this a man in a tracksuit appeared holding aloft a golden ball, like some ancient deity hoisting god’s gonad on his shoulders. At which point an enormous golden Fifa sign appeared, all four letters at least 50ft high, winched down out of the ether like a vision of divine grace – if not the most ludicrous sporting spectacle of all time, then surely the most ludicrous yet.What is the vast golden Fifa sign even supposed to signify? Behold: the acronym of an administrative organisation! What power is it expressing, what legitimacy? How should we worship it? How do we escape its wrath?The Fifa sign did eventually re-reascend, grudgingly. And by the end of the night a US team that came into this tournament with fingers crossed had run all over a disappointing Paraguay, scoring three times in the first half en route to a breezy 4-1 win.Every World Cup needs its hosts to start well. Even more so in the US, where there is always the lurking fear the president might decide to sulk or lose interest, like an angry toddler overturning his train set.Mainly Fifa needed it, at a World Cup that has been stretched thin and made strange, converted into a politicised public leisure-tainment product, in a nation that seems to be constantly at war with itself.A single fun, distracting day on the Pacific coast might still turn out to be the equivalent of turning up the music to mask the sound of the neighbours arguing through the wall. But we know how the spectacle works. And this was irresistible in a Los Angeles kind of way, on one of those nights when even the air seems to turn soft and blue.Before kick off the main rump of US fans had come sweeping down the boulevards in a rush of flares and pageantry, like the massed reserves in a civil war re-enactment. There is a slight misconception these fans see themselves as hard core ultras. In reality this is more like a costume party, an uncle Sam-ish show of Americana, stars and stripes dungarees, twirling flags, pom poms, straw hats, bow ties that spin around.The stadium here is stunning, all swooping lines, cooling fountains and funnelled breezes, a place that looks like it was designed by people in robes on some far flung Star Trek planet. It really should be staging the final, even if it will still cost you a scandalous $23.50 for a beer on the concourse.Fireworks flared. There were deafening roars of “Yoo Ess Ay”. Mauricio Pochettino appeared on his touchline in a blue grey suit and white trainers, hair rakishly long, looking like a 1980s cop whose work takes place exclusively on speedboats filled with diamonds.And the US started in a whirl of high pressing and forward movement, impressively fearless on a day that represents the biggest moment in any of these players’ international careers.The opening goal was made by Weston McKennie’s driving run and a cut back deflected into his own net by Damián Bobadilla. Paraguay had beaten Brazil and Argentina in qualifying. Here they spent the opening hour in a sullen defensive crouch, fulfilling Gustavo Álvarez’s brief to become “the team no one wants to face”, if only because this involves watching them play.Folarin Balogun got the second on the half hour mark. And there is a significant point here, even a note of grace through the fog. A certain version of America is being punted around the place right now. This vast democracy, a place of immigrants and liberty, has been rattling down its fences, pursuing its own citizens, parroting a divisively insular rhetoric.This US team does represent something else. It is a hugely mixed and diverse group of dual nationals, people with roots in places from Liberia to Croatia. Balogun, the decisive presence on the pitch, is of Nigerian descent, a place Trump has insulted, bombed and excluded. And here that diverse and spirited team did the thing sport does, modelling an ideal of harmony and fellowship, making a stadium and wider sporting nation happy. Moments like this don’t solve anything. But sport is always trying to tell you something, if you can be bothered to listen.Balogun got the third too, leaving two defenders splayed on the turf and spanking the ball into the top corner as the crowd cooed and gurgled and tumbled over itself. There was time to cheer the celebrity reel on the giant screen, David Beckham and Tom Cruise beaming like a nuclear grade twin celebrity megalith, Ishowspeed gurning and gesturing, excited to a preternatural level just to see himself reflected in a camera lens, startled every time to find he still exists.Trump was absent here, and replaced by Marco Rubio in the seat next to Infantino, who looked a little grudging and sad, like that scene in Goodfellas where Henry Hill is forced to endure a double date, then rushes off before the coffee comes.Perhaps Rubio can now stay on for the next game here, which features Iran, and a dramatic gear change into war, dissent and geopolitics.But this strange, bloated three-part tournament did at least take on some kind of shape in California, the place where the land ends and America fades into the blue. And suddenly the next four weeks do at least look and feel a little more like a World Cup.