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The fate of Group D going into the final matchday next week will be clear by tonight, and the USA has every chance to be in charge of it. Off a performance against Paraguay that may go down as one of the best in program history, Pochettino's team gets a real test in Seattle against an Australia side that just made the rest of the world pay attention. There is a calf injury hanging over the morning and a lineup decision that could shape this whole tournament. Let's get into it.

The USMNT and Australia meet Friday in Seattle with first place in Group D on the line, and both sides arrive having done exactly what they needed to do in their openers. The USA dismantled Paraguay 4-1. Australia shut down Türkiye 2-0. Whoever wins this one takes a real step toward a favorable path through the knockout rounds.

The headline question all week has been Christian Pulisic's left calf, and the signs are not especially encouraging. He trained apart again Thursday, worked through a modified session, then went to the gym instead of joining the group. Mauricio Pochettino has said Pulisic is "evolving" and "much better," but has stopped short of saying he expects him to play, noting that if Pulisic isn't ready for Friday, he should be ready for the next game.

That last part matters. This isn't just about today. If Pulisic can genuinely go and it's a matter of managing discomfort rather than risking the injury, let him play, he's too important to the attack to hold back over caution alone. But if there's real risk of making it worse or costing him later group games, the smart move is to sit him. The USA is no longer just trying to win one match. With where things stand in the group, this is a team that has to start thinking about the long road, and Pulisic is someone they will need in the biggest games still to come.

If he's out, Pochettino has options, and the choice says something about how he wants to approach this game. Going attacking from the jump points toward Gio Reyna. Wanting more security and defensive solidity points toward Sebastian Berhalter. Either keeps the same shape. A full shape change is a different conversation entirely, and that will only become clear when the lineup drops.

Whoever plays in behind Folarin Balogun, the formula that worked against Paraguay is the one to repeat: win the midfield, the way Tyler Adams, Weston McKennie and Malik Tillman did in the opener, then let the speed in behind do its work. Paraguay coach Gustavo Alfaro said the USA midfield had a solution to every problem. Australia will present a tougher problem to solve.

That's because this isn't the Australia side many expected. Tony Popovic's team showed real growth in the Türkiye win, more nuanced and more organized than what the USA saw from the Socceroos in last October's testy 2-1 friendly. Nestory Irankunda, who scored in the opener, and Mohamed Toure give them speed and direct threat in transition, and Alex Freeman will need to be disciplined defending in behind. Pochettino called Australia's defensive organization difficult to break down and praised how quickly they transition once they win the ball back. Add in a back line anchored by 6-foot-6 Harry Souttar on set pieces, and goalkeeper Patrick Beach coming off a man-of-the-match debut, and Australia is a far tougher out than the seeding suggested.

Kickoff is 3 p.m. ET at Lumen Field. A win sends the USA to the brink of winning the group. A draw still leaves them in strong shape. Either way, this is the kind of match that tells you what this team is actually built to handle when the games stop being easy. Join us at McCray’s on the Atlanta Beltline for the match and a live broadcast of Atlanta Soccer Tonight from 6-8pm to recap everything.

Mexico is through to the knockout stage, and they did not have to wait long to get there. Luis Romo's second half goal was enough to beat South Korea 1-0 in Guadalajara on Thursday, and with it, El Tri became the first team at this World Cup to clinch a spot in the Round of 32.

The bigger prize is where that knockout match will be played. By winning Group A outright, Mexico secured its Round of 32 fixture at Estadio Azteca on June 30, and if they advance from there, the Round of 16 game would be played at the Azteca as well. Javier Aguirre called the stadium a volcano, and he is not exaggerating. Mexico has not lost a World Cup match there since 1986, the last time the country hosted the tournament, and Aguirre was on that team.

That is the real value of Thursday's result. It is not just three points and a clean sheet. It is two more home matches, at the most intimidating venue in Mexican soccer, with the kind of crowd that turns a stadium into a deafening home advantage. And because Mexico has already locked up first place, the final group game against Czechia on June 24 is now essentially meaningless in the standings. That gives Aguirre the freedom to rest anyone who needs it before the knockout rounds begin, a real advantage most teams in this tournament will not have.

The performance itself was far from perfect. Romo's goal came off a goalkeeping mistake from South Korea's Kim Seung-Gyu, and Aguirre was the first to admit his team lacked rhythm in the final third. Mexico needed a goal line clearance from Edson Álvarez and a pair of late saves from Raúl Rangel to protect the lead. But World Cup soccer rarely rewards style points in the group stage. It rewards results, and Mexico has two of them.

Aguirre, calmer and more measured than in his previous stints with this program, was careful not to get ahead of himself. He pointed to the final position as the only stat that matters, not history or symbolism. But for a country that has not topped its group since 2002, and one that gets to do its knockout round work in front of its own fans at the Azteca, this is exactly the start Mexico wanted.

Forget the final score for a second and just watch Guadalajara erupt. Telemundo's highlight reel from Mexico's win over South Korea captures what six points and a ticket back to the Azteca actually feels like on the ground, the kind of release that turns a 1-0 game into a full-blown party in the stands.

Canada delivered the greatest result in the program's history on Thursday, dismantling Qatar 6-0 at BC Place to put themselves on the doorstep of their first ever World Cup knockout round appearance. Jonathan David scored a hat trick. Cyle Larin opened the scoring in the 17th minute. Nathan Saliba and Jacob Shaffelburg each added goals off the bench. By halftime it was already 3-0, and Qatar spent the second half down to nine men after red cards to Homam Al-Amin and Assim Madibo.

The result puts Canada top of Group B on goal difference, and with it comes real clarity on what's ahead. A win or even a draw against Switzerland on June 24 in Vancouver wins the group outright. That matters for more than pride. Win the group and Canada stays in Vancouver for a third straight match, taking on a third place finisher from Groups D or E in the Round of 32 on home turf. Finish second instead, and the path runs through Los Angeles, likely against South Korea, with the comfort of the home crowd left behind.

There was real cost to Thursday's win. Ismaël Koné, arguably Canada's best player through two games, went down with what looked like a serious lower leg injury after a challenge from Madibo and had to be carried off on a stretcher. Saliba came on in his place and scored Canada's fourth goal minutes later, holding up Koné's number 8 shirt in celebration. Jonathan David, Koné's close friend, was visibly shaken on the pitch. Whatever Canada faces in the knockout rounds, they may well face it without him.

But the performance itself spoke to something larger than one result. Six goals came from four different players. Tajon Buchanan and David combined to create chance after chance in a first half that saw Canada hold 67 percent of possession and outshoot Qatar 14 to 2. And Canada still has not seen its best player. Alphonso Davies has yet to feature in this tournament. If this is what the team looks like without him, the ceiling here is still rising.

For a program that has waited its entire history for this moment, the wait is nearly over. Four points now gives Canada a better than a 99 percent chance of reaching the knockout round according to every prediction model available. Vancouver showed Thursday what it sounds like when that wait finally breaks.

The World Cup keeps producing moments that remind you why this tournament only comes around once every four years, and Friday's headlines stretch from a historic finish in Group B to a sobering update out of the Argentina camp.

On The Field

Switzerland and Bosnia-Herzegovina turned a scoreless stalemate into a piece of World Cup history on Thursday. The match sat at 0-0 deep into the second half before Johan Manzambi broke through in the 74th minute, and what followed was an avalanche: a Rubén Vargas goal in the 84th, another from Manzambi in the 90th, a Bosnian consolation from Ermin Mahmić in stoppage time, and a Granit Xhaka finish in the 97th to make it 4-1. It marked the first time in World Cup history that five or more goals were scored after the 70th minute within regulation play, surpassing the previous mark set by Mexico and Croatia at Brazil 2014. Bosnia and Herzegovina’s 80th minute red card to Tarik Muharemović after Manzambi’s opener started the chaotic road to the final whistle that was paved with goals galore.

Elsewhere, Brazil will be without Neymar again on Friday when they face Haiti in Philadelphia. The 34-year-old has not played since suffering a calf injury ahead of the tournament and will continue his recovery in New Jersey rather than travel with the squad. Carlo Ancelotti said his team needs to find more balance after an underwhelming 1-1 draw with Morocco in the opener, and is expected to make changes to the lineup against a Haiti side playing in its first World Cup since 1974.

Off The Field

The biggest story of the day has nothing to do with a scoreline. Lionel Messi's father, Jorge, is dealing with what the family described only as a health situation, asking for privacy and an end to speculation. Messi alluded to a difficult personal stretch after Argentina's opening win over Algeria, saying he had been through some hard days unrelated to football. Mauricio Pochettino, who knows the Messi family from his time in Paris, offered his support on Thursday, calling Messi the best in the world and wishing the family well ahead of the USA's own match against Australia.

The tournament's atmosphere off the pitch continues to be a story in its own right. FIFA announced the Fan Festival has already drawn nearly 2 million visitors across its 13 host cities, with venues in Mexico, Canada and the U.S. running at or near capacity. Atlanta's Fan Festival has featured a performance from Summer Walker, with Ludacris, Killer Mike, Ceelo Green and Davido still to come, part of a run of programming that has turned host cities into their own kind of World Cup destination.

The Refill, Kick Into Summer Edition

Time of Play Is Up: FIFA's new measures to limit time wasting appear to be working. The ball has been in play 59.4 percent of match time so far this tournament, up from 56.9 percent in Qatar and 56.2 percent in Russia, even as average match length has dropped.

Argentina Faces Selection Questions: Lionel Scaloni is expected to start Julián Álvarez over Lautaro Martínez against Austria, while left back Nicolás Tagliafico continues to work back from a calf injury ahead of the match.

SDH AM — Live this morning on the SDH YouTube and Twitch channels: Jon Nelson hosts Telemundo's Carlos Mauricio Ramírez at 10 a.m., then Niko Moreno of Pulso Sports and Nino Torres of FuboTV at 10:30. At 11:30, friend of the show Joe Freihofer of Atlanta United's digital media team joins live from Guadalajara to share what it's actually like on the ground at the World Cup.

Atlanta Soccer Tonight — Live from 6 to 8 p.m. on 92.9 The Game, the Audacy app, and the 92.9 YouTube channel, with reaction and analysis to USA-Australia. Join us in person at McCray's Tavern on the Atlanta Beltline for the show.

Tercer Tiempo Fest — The international soccer film festival makes its Atlanta debut this weekend in DeKalb County, marking its 10th edition. The festival blends film screenings, panel discussions, and community events to tell the human stories behind the game. I will be part of Saturday morning's panel on the documentary King Puma. Two days of films, free to attend.

Messi's Hat Trick Draws a Tournament-Sized Audience: Argentina's 3-0 win over Algeria, featuring a Lionel Messi hat trick, averaged 9,082,000 viewers on Fox, the second most watched English-language broadcast of a non-USMNT group stage game at this World Cup. The match also drew 8.6 million viewers on Telemundo, the most-watched Argentina group stage game on Spanish-language television since Argentina-Mexico at Qatar 2022.

Fox Tops a Billion Digital Views in Five Days: Fox Sports has surpassed one billion views across its digital and social platforms in just the first five days of the tournament, putting it on pace to top the 1.2 billion views the entire 2022 World Cup generated on the platform. Host nation match days from Mexico, Canada and the U.S. drove the early numbers before tournament favorites like Argentina, France and England had even played.

USL Championship Expands Player Health Partnership: The USL has expanded its deal with Kitman Labs, giving every USL Championship club access to the firm's performance medicine platform starting this season. The agreement builds on a prior partnership covering the Gainbridge Super League and joins a Kitman roster that already includes Leeds United, the Bundesliga, Serie A, MLS and the NWSL.

Gasol-Backed Group Eyes Major Investment in Liga F: Gasol16 Ventures, the investment vehicle backed by former NBA star Pau Gasol, has submitted a proposal to Liga F reported to exceed 100 million euros, which would mark the largest private investment in the history of women's football. Liga F has acknowledged the proposal is under review but has not confirmed financial terms.

Brest Put Up for Sale Amid Ligue 1 Turmoil: Ligue 1 club Brest, a Champions League participant as recently as 2024-25, has been put up for sale by owner Denis Le Saint following the collapse of French football's domestic television deal. The Brittany club is also navigating the departure of sporting director Grégory Lorenzi to Marseille and the death of head coach Éric Roy from cancer this week.

By the time you finish your coffee this morning, the day's biggest question will already be answered somewhere between a training room in Seattle and Mauricio Pochettino's final team sheet. Christian Pulisic's calf will decide a lot about how the USA wants to play this one, but it will not decide whether they can win it. This team has the midfield, the speed, and now the belief, after Paraguay, to go take first place in Group D on the road against an Australia side that is better and more dangerous than anyone gave them credit for in March. That tension, favorite against form, certainty against a banged up superstar, is exactly why you watch.

Catch the reaction tonight on Atlanta Soccer Tonight, live from 6 to 8 p.m. on 92.9 The Game, the Audacy app, and the 92.9 YouTube channel. We will be at McCray's Tavern on the Atlanta Beltline if you want to watch it with us.

Song of the Day: "No Surrender" by Bruce Springsteen. Pochettino has built this team on belief, that they belong on this stage and are capable of something special this summer, and that is a mentality you do not compromise no matter who is across from you.

Jason