The Socceroos are within reach of unprecedented renown. They step on to the World Cup\u2019s main stage in Seattle in a showdown against co-hosts United States with a place in the knockout stage awaiting the victor.<\/p>\n
Australia won their World Cup opener<\/a> last week for only the second time in their history. They have never secured victory in their first two matches. To do it in the backyard of their opponents represents a rare chance to prove the country\u2019s football credentials<\/a> to a global audience.<\/p>\n \u201cPlaying the host nation here as well is a wonderful challenge, but also a wonderful opportunity for us,\u201d coach Tony Popovic said. \u201cAnd we know that we will need to be better than we were against Turkey to get the result we want.\u201d<\/p>\n The anticipation for the two teams\u2019 second group match<\/a> has exploded since both recorded victories in their openers<\/a>. Popovic and captain Harry Souttar faced an audience at the pre-match press conference perhaps double the size of what they had experienced the week before in Vancouver, as American and international media descended on Seattle.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve worked on a few different areas, and ways that we believe we can try and manage the US team when they are attacking,\u201d Popovic said. \u201cOf course, it will be a difficult challenge, but one that we\u2019ve prepared well for, and we come in with confidence and we have our own belief as well that we can also cause them some problems.\u201d<\/p>\n Coach Tony Popovic made a crunch call to leave some the Socceroos\u2019 most experienced players out of the starting XI for their World Cup opener. Photograph: Jason Henry\/AAP<\/p>\n The Socceroos chose their two warm-up matches precisely with this fixture in mind. They played Mexico in front of a huge, unfriendly crowd<\/a> in Los Angeles, then Switzerland in San Diego<\/a> the following week in an early kick-off.<\/p>\n Seattle, in the north-west of the United States, boasts one of the proudest football communities in the country. The match\u2019s stadium is also the home of the Seattle Seahawks, the reigning Super Bowl winners, and is known to be one of the loudest arenas in the country.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Mexico game, playing in front of almost 80,000 people, pretty much everyone against you in the stadium, so that was a good little test for us,\u201d Popovic said. \u201cThen the Switzerland game, playing at 12[pm], we tested logistically how that would look for us for this match, and we got some learnings from that, and we put them in place for this game.\u201d<\/p>\n The temperature is expected to peak at 27C on Friday afternoon in Seattle. But it is the time of the game \u2013 a midday kick-off, nine hours earlier than the previous week<\/a> against Turkey \u2013 that has forced the Socceroos to rejig their pre-match routine.<\/p>\n Goalkeeper Patrick Beach was critical to the Socceroos starting a World Cup campaign with a win for just the second time. Photograph: Jason Henry\/EPA<\/p>\n It is not just the players who will be bringing forward their alarms. About 10,000 Australians are expected to attend the match, and bars are opening from 7am to welcome the travelling support. The arena is a short walk from downtown, and hundreds of yellow shirts filled the city\u2019s streets on Thursday ahead of the match.<\/p>\n The two teams faced each other less than a year ago, during a friendly in Colorado won 2-1 by the USA<\/a>. Jordy Bos opened the scoring for Australia, but a double from Haji Wright<\/a> \u2013 the US striker who was on the bench against Paraguay \u2013 secured the home team the victory.<\/p>\n Christian Pulisic, the Americans\u2019 standout player \u2013 who is in doubt for the Seattle match<\/a> \u2013 was forced off injured that night. He had already been on the end of some rough treatment from the Australians, but the ailment that ended his evening was a hamstring strain. He missed close to a month in the most serious of four minor injury absences in the past year.<\/p>\n Pulisic\u2019s current calf complaint<\/a> might not be as severe, but it has attracted more scrutiny. The winger was not seen training<\/a> with the US team at all in the lead-up, and he was restricted to light work. Coach Mauricio Pochettino\u2019s evasive response to a question about Pulisic\u2019s availability in his press conference on Thursday only added to speculation the AC Milan player would be unable to play. Popovic played down the impact of Pulisic\u2019s possible absence, however, saying the US \u201chave plenty of options\u201d even if the attacker was forced to withdraw.<\/p>\n