Australia 'will need to be better' to defeat USA: Popovic

[p][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/australia/xSrf6qMM/"]Australia[/a] ‌began their campaign with a superb 2-0 win ‌over [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/turkey/QeijuHo5/"]Turkey[/a], sitting deep and springing on the counter to ‌devastating effect to give themselves a great chance ‌of reaching the knockout stages.[/p][p]However, the U.S. are also coming into the match on a high after dismantling [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/paraguay/YaNlqp6j/"]Paraguay[/a] 4-1, though ‌the fitness of their influential winger [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/pulisic-christian/vTuaEfRq/"]Christian ⁠Pulisic[/a] is a ‌concern.[/p][p]Popovic said his side should embrace the challenge of facing the ​U.S. in their backyard, but was under no illusions about the difficulty of their task.[/p][p]"[b]We know ​it will be a different type of challenge[/b]," he told reporters.[/p][p]"Playing the host nation here as well is ⁠a wonderful challenge, ​but also a wonderful opportunity for us.[/p][p]"[b]We know that we will need to be better than we were against Turkey to get the result we want.[/b]"[/p][embed guid="a4ebe7f5-387e-4313-99e4-6d9b8b2a1aec" url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6CGYkx7d7Iw" social-type="youtube" /][p]He added that ‌Australia were confident they could cause the U.S. some problems and wanted his team to keep playing as if they belong on the big stage.[/p][p]"[b]We want to earn our respect,[/b]" Popovic said.[/p][p]"[b]We know that by our performances we can put Australian football on the world map and that's what we aim to do.[/b]"[/p][p]A win for either side will ensure a place in the ‌last-32, but defender [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/souttar-harry/Aw73uj0d/"]Harry Souttar[/a] – who captained Australia against ​Turkey with goalkeeper [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/ryan-mathew/YBLvziIh/"]Mat Ryan[/a] on the bench – ‌refused to look beyond Friday's game.[/p][p]"[b]We're not thinking ahead at all[/b]," he said.[/p][p]"It's literally just about the game tomorrow and how we approach it, how we start the game.[/p][p]"[b]The lads are excited, but it's ⁠a fine balance between ⁠using that excitement and ‌also being calm and composed.[/b]"[/p][embed guid="0d267300-84b5-4fa5-9895-163cc96d8f36" url="https://x.com/AlboMP/status/2067811178286629192" social-type="twitter" /]