Amerika Serikat Tundukkan Australia Dua Gol Tanpa Balas di Seattle

Tim nasional Amerika Serikat berhasil menundukkan Australia dengan skor akhir 2-0 pada pertandingan lanjutan babak penyisihan Grup D Piala Dunia di Stadion Seattle yang dihadiri 68.000 penonton pada Jumat, 19 Juni 2026 waktu setempat.

Kekalahan ini membuat posisi Australia tertahan di peringkat kedua grup dengan raihan tiga poin, sementara Amerika Serikat kokoh di puncak klasemen dengan mengemas enam poin dari dua kemenangan beruntun.

Gol pertama Amerika Serikat tercipta melalui gol bunuh diri bek Australia, Cameron Burgess, yang salah mengantisipasi umpan silang Folarin Balogun, sebelum Alex Freeman menggandakan keunggulan lewat sundulan kepala menjelang akhir babak pertama yang sempat ditinjau ulang oleh asisten wasit video (VAR).

Kepemimpinan wasit asal Jerman, Felix Zwayer, menuai kritik tajam dari para pemain Australia yang merasa beberapa keputusan tidak adil merugikan performa tim sepanjang jalannya laga.

"If you look at how the referee was today, [there’s] not much I can say about that," ujar Nestory Irankunda, penyerang Australia.

Pemain muda tersebut merasa timnya tidak beruntung dengan kepemimpinan pengadil lapangan karena mengabaikan sejumlah pelanggaran fisik yang dialami timnya.

"The ref was having a stinker today, but I mean it is what it is," kata Nestory Irankunda, penyerang Australia.

Ia menambahkan bahwa tim lawan mendapatkan banyak keuntungan dari peluit yang ditiup oleh wasit Jerman tersebut.

"He was giving every call to the USA. I get it, but at the same time, we know there’s two teams on the field, so you have to give the calls both ways and he didn’t do that today." ujar Nestory Irankunda, penyerang Australia.

Pelatih Australia, Tony Popovic, juga memberikan pandangannya terkait inkonsistensi penegakan aturan di lapangan hijau selama pertandingan berlangsung.

"I thought the referee gave too many fouls away, in all honesty," kata Tony Popovic, pelatih Australia.

Menurutnya, para pemain terkadang sangat mudah dijatuhi hukuman pelanggaran, namun di waktu lain tindakan keras justru dibiarkan.

"Sometimes you didn’t have to do much to win a foul, and on the other occasions you you had to do a fair bit to get one." ujar Tony Popovic, pelatih Australia.

Popovic juga menyoroti performa anak asuhnya yang tampil kurang bergairah pada paruh pertama pertandingan.

"I don’t know if it’s the occasion, but we looked sluggish, heavy legged, dull," kata Tony Popovic, pelatih Australia.

Ia mengakui keunggulan fisik dan taktik tim tuan rumah yang mampu mendominasi setiap perebutan bola.

"They won every duel, they won every second ball and when you do that, it makes it very difficult to get any, gain any momentum." ujar Tony Popovic, pelatih Australia.

Meski kecewa dengan hasil paruh pertama, Popovic mengapresiasi kebangkitan performa timnya setelah turun minum.

"We’ve got to accept what happened today, and I’m really delighted with the second half, to be honest, with all the players that came on, and the players that didn’t have a good first half," kata Tony Popovic, pelatih Australia.

Kini fokus timnya langsung dialihkan untuk menghadapi pertandingan penentu melawan Paraguay pada pekan depan.

"It’s a World Cup. We move on to Paraguay and we’ll work hard to be ready for that." ujar Tony Popovic, pelatih Australia.

Dalam konferensi pers berbeda, Popovic memberikan penegasan kembali mengenai penilaiannya terhadap korps baju hitam.

"I think today was, I wouldn’t say the best day for the referee," kata Tony Popovic, pelatih Australia.

Ia menyebut atmosfer penonton tuan rumah turut memberikan pengaruh besar terhadap jalannya pertandingan tingkat tinggi ini.

"When you think, you know, this noise here — host nation — I think the players show how good they are in the second half, but obviously at this level, you can't give away that much in the first." ujar Tony Popovic, pelatih Australia.

Popovic mengungkapkan alasan teknis di balik keputusannya membangku cadangkan beberapa pemain pilar di awal laga.

"Just [a] short turnaround in terms of the emotion and everything physical that went into the last game," kata Tony Popovic, pelatih Australia.

Ia juga mengakui ketangguhan skuad Amerika Serikat yang tampil menyulitkan barisan pertahanan Socceroos.

"But overall we weren't good enough in the first half. You've got to hand it to them [the USA], they are very strong." ujar Tony Popovic, pelatih Australia.

Kapten Australia, Harry Souttar, menyatakan bahwa skuad harus segera bangkit dan menjaga kepositifan menjelang laga penentuan grup.

"[The reaction] has got to be a positive one tomorrow," kata Harry Souttar, kapten Australia.

Ia menilai timnya perlu melakukan evaluasi mendalam atas video rekaman pertandingan guna memperbaiki kesalahan taktis.

"We can look back at the game properly and take bits that we did well and that we didn’t do well – there’s a lot of them." ujar Harry Souttar, kapten Australia.

Souttar menegaskan peluang lolos ke babak 32 besar masih terbuka lebar jika mampu meraih hasil positif di San Francisco.

"We’re in that position where we know we can go through, if we get a result. So yeah, full focus and positivity has got to be [there] for that last game," kata Harry Souttar, kapten Australia.

Ia menyayangkan kegagalan tim dalam mengontrol bola secara tenang pada menit-menit awal pertandingan.

"We didn’t start well enough," ujar Harry Souttar, kapten Australia.

Tekanan tinggi dari tim lawan membuat skema operan pendek dari lini belakang tidak berjalan sesuai rencana.

"They were in our faces, we couldn’t keep the ball down, we were always trying to get in behind early, we just didn’t really show that composure that I think you think you needed. But the reaction was good." kata Harry Souttar, kapten Australia.

Gelandang Aiden O'Neill menambahkan bahwa keyakinan di dalam skuad tidak luntur berkat motivasi konstan dari jajaran kepelatihan.

"The boss always talks about the belief in the squad and I think maybe in the second half we really truly believed that we would get back into it," ujar Aiden O'Neill, gelandang Australia.

Perubahan taktik dan pergantian pemain di babak kedua terbukti memberikan dampak signifikan bagi kestabilan permainan tim.

"Maybe you could see that on the field, and we gave everything. I think everyone can see that." kata Aiden O'Neill, gelandang Australia.