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U.S. advances to World Cup knockout round after win against Australia · THE DAILY BRIEF

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  Speaker 1: Well. Team USA secured its spot in the World Cup's
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  Speaker 1: knockout round with a two nil win against Australia this afternoon.
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  Speaker 1: It's the first time since nineteen thirty that the American
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  Speaker 1: men have won consecutive World Cup matches. It's been a
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  Speaker 1: big week as the world watches legends of the sport
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  Speaker 1: compete for their countries. Tournament favorites are meeting the moment
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  Speaker 1: and underdogs are rising to the occasion. For more, we
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  Speaker 1: turn now to Leander Sharlockins, who's been covering the Cup
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  Speaker 1: for ESPN and The Guardian. He's the author of the
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  Speaker 1: book The Long Game US Men's Soccer and its savage
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  Speaker 1: four decade journey to the top or thereabouts. Leander, Welcome
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  Speaker 1: to the News Hour, Thanks for joining us.
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  Speaker 2: Thank you.
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  Speaker 1: So let's talk about that big win for Team USA
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  Speaker 1: against Australia today. What stood out to you and who
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  Speaker 1: in particular on the team stood out to you in
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  Speaker 1: that game.
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  Speaker 2: I have these moments during this early run at this
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  Speaker 2: World Cup where I think to myself, what is going on?
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  Speaker 2: Because for my book, I went back and watched every
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  Speaker 2: US game they've played at the World Cup back to
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  Speaker 2: nineteen ninety and they have never played this well, they
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  Speaker 2: have never looked this good, and as you mentioned, they
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  Speaker 2: have not won consecutive World Cup games going back to
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  Speaker 2: nineteen thirty, which was the first World Cup that was
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  Speaker 2: ever played. This is only the third World Cup where
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  Speaker 2: the US has even had two wins in the entire tournament.
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  Speaker 2: The other time was in two thousand and two when
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  Speaker 2: they made the quarterfinals. And what's really striking me in
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  Speaker 2: this team right now is that they aren't just still
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  Speaker 2: offering that feistiness and that fitness and that physicality that
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  Speaker 2: historically allowed this team to compete with more talented opponents,
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  Speaker 2: but that they're also combining it with good soccer. It's creative,
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  Speaker 2: it's tactically astute. They really like playing through opponents. The
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  Speaker 2: second half against Australia was a bit of a slog
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  Speaker 2: and a bit of an attritional war. But you know,
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  Speaker 2: there are so many players playing well right now. Chris
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  Speaker 2: Richards in the back, Weston McKenny in the middle, Tyler
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  Speaker 2: Adams in the middle, fuller and Baligan the striker who
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  Speaker 2: forced the own goal that put the US ahead early
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  Speaker 2: on for a second time in a row. I believe
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  Speaker 2: this is the first World Cup where a team has
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  Speaker 2: ever benefited from two own goals, that being the usest
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  Speaker 2: time around. So there's a lot of players doing their
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  Speaker 2: job super well. At the moment, own goals are still goals.
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  Speaker 1: We will take them either way. I do want to
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  Speaker 1: ask you about some of the biggest names who are
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  Speaker 1: playing in this tournament, though, we've seen incredible performances from
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  Speaker 1: the likes of Lionel Messi, scored a hat trick in
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  Speaker 1: Argentina's opener that means he has now tied the all
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  Speaker 1: time Men's World Cup scoring record. Killian Embappe from France
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  Speaker 1: Norway's Earling Holland both scored twice to help lead their
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  Speaker 1: teams to wins in the early matches. So on soccer's
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  Speaker 1: biggest stage, how are it's the biggest stars performing?
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  Speaker 2: So far? Everybody has come out to play other than
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  Speaker 2: Cristiano Ronaldo, who is forty one and who looks very
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  Speaker 2: static for Portugal, and there's a rising chorus of critics
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  Speaker 2: suggesting that that team would be much better off if
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  Speaker 2: they left them off the field. But everybody else has
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  Speaker 2: been really good so far. This World Cup is off
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  Speaker 2: to a hot start. Lionel Messi, who's about to turn
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  Speaker 2: thirty nine in a few days, had never scored a
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  Speaker 2: hat trick at a World Cup before, and he just
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  Speaker 2: did it for the first time the other day. And
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  Speaker 2: that's ultimately the thing that winds up redeeming the World Cup,
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  Speaker 2: and that bails out the people who are in charge
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  Speaker 2: of putting it on and who you know, present us
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  Speaker 2: with these issues every four years, and there's always all
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  Speaker 2: this discourse about the problems going into the World Cup,
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  Speaker 2: and we certainly shouldn't look away from them. But this
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  Speaker 2: is why it works so well as a sportswashing project,
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  Speaker 2: as kind of this redeeming thing, is because once the
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  Speaker 2: soccer start, it's still really great and we get all
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  Speaker 2: the folklora, and we get all the fun stories of
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  Speaker 2: Boston falling in love with the Scottish fans and suddenly
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  Speaker 2: Laurence Kansas is Algerian territory and they're having a great time.
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  Speaker 2: It's just really fun this tournament.
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  Speaker 1: There was also some concern about the quality of play,
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  Speaker 1: with this being the first forty eight team World Cup,
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  Speaker 1: But I wanted to ask you about some of these
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  Speaker 1: underdogs that we've seen performing really well against some of
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  Speaker 1: the world's top teams. The Democratic Republic of Congo holding
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  Speaker 1: Portugal to a draw, cape Verde tying Spain. How are
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  Speaker 1: you looking at that?
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  Speaker 2: Well, what's so funny is that we've only had one
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  Speaker 2: zero zero tie at this World Cup so far, which
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  Speaker 2: is the scourge of the soccer hater, right, And that
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  Speaker 2: actually turned out to be the biggest upset of the
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  Speaker 2: tournament because that was Cape Verde at its first ever
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  Speaker 2: World Cup, in its first ever World Cup game, second
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  Speaker 2: smallest country to ever qualify after curras Out which is
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  Speaker 2: also here, holding the Spen, the European champion, Spain to
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  Speaker 2: a zero zero draw. So there was concern when the
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  Speaker 2: World Cup expanded from thirty two teams to forty eight
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  Speaker 2: that that would dilute the product and that you know,
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  Speaker 2: there'd be a lot of walkovers, a lot of slaughters,
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  Speaker 2: and we really haven't seen that so far. Now. Mind you,
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  Speaker 2: it's an awfully long tournament, right, The World Cup from
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  Speaker 2: the first game to the last one is going to
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  Speaker 2: run thirty nine days, So you do want to kind
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  Speaker 2: of pace yourself a little bit if you have any
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  Speaker 2: sort of aspiration of still playing in the last week
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  Speaker 2: of the tournament.
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  Speaker 1: Got about ten seconds left, I have to ask you
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  Speaker 1: can team Usa win in their next match.
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  Speaker 2: Against TURKEYA yeah, absolutely they can, and then they seat
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  Speaker 2: themselves really well for the knockout stages.
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  Speaker 1: We will be watching and waiting and cheering them on.
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  Speaker 1: Leander sharlockins such a pleasure to talk to you. Thank
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  Speaker 1: you so much for your time. Thank you, and you
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  Speaker 1: can find more of our World Cup coverage online, including
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  Speaker 1: a video explaining three ways that this year's competition is
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  Speaker 1: different from the years past. That is on our YouTube page.
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  Speaker 2: Support journalism you trust, Support PBS News. Donate now, or
• 5:40
  Speaker 2: even better, start a monthly contribution today as