COMMERCE CITY, Colorado — Jason Geria, the Australian defender who injured Christian Pulisic in Tuesday’s friendly, insisted afterward that he didn’t plan to target the U.S. star, but said: “We’re a physical team, and we’re up for a fight, regardless of the opponent.”

“I wasn’t specifically going out to batter him up or anything,” Geria said of Pulisic, who exited the match in the 28th minute after Geria’s second rough tackle on him.

“But all over the park, there were physical battles everywhere,” Geria told The Athletic following the 2-1 win by the USMNT.

There were other crunching tackles, too, late in the first half and later on, two of which resulted in scuffles. U.S. players rushed to stand up for teammate James Sands after he was taken down from behind in the 44th minute. Defender Chris Richards confronted the referee, who hadn’t whistled for a foul. Richards then argued with Aussie players.

“They’re lucky it was a friendly. I was ready to go,” Richards said after the match. “And if (the ref) didn’t give me a s*** yellow in the corner, I probably would’ve killed somebody.”

USMNT defender Chris Richards was unimpressed with referee Kwinsi Williams. (Andrew Wevers / USSF / Getty Images)

Richards felt like referee Kwinsi Williams, from Trinidad and Tobago, “lost handle of the game.” One notable no-call was Geria’s 15th-minute tackle on Pulisic. Geria won the ball, but sandwiched Pulisic’s right ankle with his legs, and left the 27-year-old American forward writhing on the ground, clutching the ankle.

It was a 26th-minute sequence, though, that knocked Pulisic out of the game. He spun past Geria in transition. As he broke away to run at the Aussie defense, 2-v-2, Geria clipped his lower leg from behind, and this time received a yellow card.

U.S. head coach Mauricio Pochettino later said that Pulisic “(felt) something in his hamstring,” presumably as he went to the ground after the tackle.

Geria said after the match: “I heard he’s hurt, so I hope he’s OK.”

But during the match, there were no niceties. “The U.S. is a pretty physical team as well, we were expecting that,” he said. “We’re not a country that’s gonna be overawed by a physical game.”

It was, of course, only a friendly, a seemingly inconsequential game far away from any major tournament. But “there’s no friendlies,” Australian defender Jordan Bos said.

Geria agreed, noting that “you can’t” treat it like a friendly.

“This is preparation for the World Cup,” he said. “You only get so many opportunities to have games like this, against opposition like this. Every second of the game is important. It shouldn’t be taken as, ‘Yeah, it’s just a friendly, or it’s just practice,’ or whatever. You play these games like they’re tournament games. That’s how your mental approach has to be, so that’s how the physical output has to be as well.”

Bos said: “I think we’re always prepared for those kind of battles. It did get a bit feisty towards the end.”

Sands, who started his first game under Pochettino, said he didn’t necessarily expect the physicality and chippiness. “But I know what kind of team Australia is. They don’t mess around,” he added.

Australian players seemed to agree with that assessment. “You’re prepared for the fight,” Geria said, describing his team’s mentality. “You stand up for your teammates.”

U.S. players did, too, and to goalkeeper Matt Freese, some of the scuffles brought to mind this past summer’s Concacaf Gold Cup.

Christian Pulisic’s disappointment was clear after being replaced due to injury. (Omar Vega / Getty Images)

“It reminded me a little bit of that energy that everyone was talking about this summer,” he said. “When your teammate gets knocked down, you’re picking him up, and you’re gonna be standing in the other guy’s face telling them not to do it again.”

Speaking at news conferences this summer and to the USMNT in a meeting last month, Pochettino reinforced that he loves such an attitude.

“If something happens like this, we need to show that we are strong,” he told the players in September. “That shows when the team is a team. That shows when the team is ready to fight for each other.”

Freese, when asked about Pochettino’s message, said: “Yeah, I mean, I don’t know if he likes fighting. But he likes looking after each other. And tonight we did that.”

The U.S. won Tuesday’s game, 2-1, and at the final whistle, heads cooled. There was no lingering bad blood.

“A few little tiffs and that break out, but it’s all good in the end,” Geria said. “It’s just football.”