COMMERCE CITY, Colo. – For the first half hour of Tuesday’s friendly against Australia, it was doom and gloom for the U.S. men’s national team. They’d conceded a goal, and a poor one at that. Christian Pulisic, the team’s captain on the day, was forced off with an injury.

Despite dominating the play, the U.S. were down a goal and a star at the half-hour mark. Mauricio Pochettino’s side needed a spark. It came from Haji Wright, who brought his scoring boots from England right on over to Colorado. Given the start ahead of the prolific Folarin Balogun, Wright made the difference for the USMNT, making one hell of a statement in his first USMNT appearance since his Gold Cup injury.

Behind Wright’s brace, the USMNT went on to win 2-1 on Tuesday night. Following Jordan Bos’ scrappy opener, Wright took over, netting one on either side of halftime, and continuing his torrid scoring streak – he now has 11 goals in his last 11 games for club and country.

The first came as he ran onto a line-splitting pass from Cristian Roldan. The second came as he ran onto a long ball from the very same man, and that Roldan-Wright combination effectively decided the game.

“I believe in myself and the players around here make it easy,” Wright said. “I’ve known these guys my whole life, almost my whole soccer career. So getting back on the field with these guys, it feels like home to me. And playing back in the U.S. feels great… I’m not just stuck in the nine as a typical striker. I’m allowed to move and be free-flowing and create chances and score chances.”

Earlier this international break, Pochettino explained what he wants from his strikers: the ball in the back of the net. The rest is all a bonus, he said, and the key unit of measurement in this striker race will always be goals. On Tuesday, Wright got two of them at a crucial time, helping the USMNT turn a poor start into a banner night of momentum building.

“We conceded a goal that we should not concede,” Pochettino told TNT. “I was happy the way finished the first half. We controlled the game after 20 minutes. After we conceded, we started to play more natural. It’s a new team, the first time they’ve played together, and they were thinking too much, then started to play more natural.”

Now unbeaten in three games after an up-and-down summer, the U.S. continues to move in the right direction. On this occasion, Wright was the man who made it so.

GOAL rates the USMNT’s players from Dick’s Sporting Goods Park.