SEATTLE -- Tony Popovic has said that, with hindsight, he perhaps should have made more changes to his starting XI, after a "flat and lethargic" first half condemned the Socceroos to a 2-0 FIFA World Cup defeat against the United States.
Jumping on their opponents straight from the opening whistle, the Americans pressed and harangued the Australians to within an inch of their lives at Seattle Stadium and were rewarded when Cameron Burgess turned the ball into his own net in the 11th minute and Alex Freeman, after VAR intervention to deem him onside, was first to a deflected shot to poke home.
The Socceroos improved in the second half, particularly with the addition of Nestory Irankunda, Cristian Volpato, Jason Geria, and Connor Metcalfe, but by then the damage was done, with the Australians' thoughts now turning to a huge clash with Paraguay next Thursday, where their Round of 32 hopes will be on the line.
Goal scorers in last week's 2-0 win over Türkiye, the withdrawal of Metcalfe and Irankunda from the XI, replaced by Mathew Leckie and Nishan Velupillay, was met with surprise when teamsheets were delivered - surprise that only grew when their impact was contrasted with the relative lack of impact of their replacements.
Asked about the two changes post-game, Popovic said that they were driven by a desire to have fresh legs out wide and that, in hindsight, he could have perhaps made some more.
"We didn't want to go with the same XI," Popovic said. "And you could see why today, probably, I should have made more.
"We knew it would be a difficult match; we know the power that the U.S. has. But we judge what we see at training as well, and how the players look; how they've recovered physically, emotionally from the match.
"And we wanted some freshness in those wide areas, and that enabled us to put the more explosive players in the second half."
Possessing 70% of the ball in the opening half, the United States outshot Australia nine to two across the opening stanza, with seven of those efforts coming from their 14 entries into the opposition penalty area.
And while the Socceroos' win over Türkiye demonstrated the limits of using shots and possession to measure dominance, and Patrick Beach wasn't forced to make a save until the 45th minute, the U.S showed a far greater ability to pull the Australian backline out of position and work their way into the penalty area.
The Socceroos, in contrast, could hardly get out of their own half across the opening stanza, not only failing to win their duels and consistently getting to the ball second, but making a series of forced errors under the American press, as well as several unforced ones.
"No, [the U.S did] not surprise us, because their quality is clear, their power is clear, their athleticism is clear," Popovic said when asked if his side had been caught unawares. "There are no surprises in what they did. We didn't match that in the first half. We found it difficult to win a challenge, to win a second ball.
"We were slow to every ball, and we couldn't really wrestle back any momentum, which made it difficult. And we considered a couple of soft goals, really, for us, they were soft goals. We just looked flat and lethargic in the first half.
"Look, you can always think about, was it personnel? I'm not sure how much the personnel would have made a difference in that first half," he said. "It was warm for us out there; it was difficult; we found it difficult, and I think the players that came on would have probably struggled to last long in the first half.
"So, we needed some fresh bodies for the second half to come on, and we needed to stay in the game better than we did in the first half. But you've got to give [the U.S] credit as well. There's a reason why they are so good.
"But, overall, I'm very happy with the response, because it's a very inexperienced team that we have at this level. "I'm really, really pleased with the second half. It would be nice to get a goal in those moments that we had to just see what could happen next, but everyone should be very happy with how they responded after the break."