Joey LynchCloseJoey Lynch is a Melbourne-based sports journalist and AYA cancer advocate. Primarily working on football, he has covered the Socceroos, Matildas and A-Leagues for ESPN for over a decade.

SEATTLE, Washington - Socceroos boss Tony Popovic has said his side will need to be "better" than in their World Cup-opening win over Türkiye if they want to get a result against the "different challenge" that the United States will present on Friday.

After staging training at their Oakland training base, rather than in the host city, the Socceroos flew into the Pacific Northwest on Thursday afternoon and headed straight to Seattle Stadium to inspect the ground where they will face the tournament co-hosts on Friday at noon.

Popovic's side goes into the contest buoyed by their dogged 2-0 win over Türkiye last Saturday that sees them sit alongside the United States atop Group D, and knowing they will lock up top spot in the group if they defeat the Americans and Paraguay fail to defeat Türkiye in Santa Clara in a later game.

But with the USMNT hammering Paraguay 4-1 in their opening game, Popovic knows that getting a result against the Americans will be far easier said than done.

"It's a different challenge," Popovic said. "[They're] different teams. Türkiye were a more European style in terms of their technical build up, slower build up, fantastic possession. I think the United States team has a good mix of the two. [They're] very powerful, very athletic, so we know it will be a different type of challenge.

"Playing the host nation here as well is a wonderful challenge, but also a wonderful opportunity for us, and we know that we will need to be better than we were against Türkiye to get a get the result we want.

"We worked on a few different areas and ways that we believe we can try and manage the US team when they are attacking. Of course, will be a difficult challenge, but one that we've prepared well for, and we come in with confidence, and we have our own belief as well that we can also cause them some problems."

- Socceroos 'focused' on USMNT game as transfer rumors swirl - Harry Souttar is defying all odds, again, to star at a World Cup - Socceroos World Cup Daily: Souttar on Australia's belief

Key to the outcome of Friday's meeting will be just how the United States seek to break down Australia, and just how aggressive they are with their pressing efforts -- knowing that Australia's attack featuring speedsters such as Mohamed Toure, Nestory Irankunda and Jordan Bos can ruthlessly exploit any space left open.

Folarin Balogun will likely lead the line for the United States once again, after scoring a brace against Paraguay, but there remains significant doubt over the status of Christian Pulisic due to a troublesome calf. Popovic, for his part, reported no fitness concerns for the Australians.

"We know that they're gonna, they're gonna start sharp, they're gonna start fast, just like they did in their opening game," Socceroos captain Harry Souttar said. "So we've got to match that. When we have the ball, we've just got to keep it; try and try and open them up and try and play to our strengths. We've got some really good threats in the team, and it's about getting the ball to them and using them well."

Regardless of how the chess match plays out between Popovic and his USMNT counterpart, Mauricio Pochettino, Friday shapes as being highly physical, after the friendly in Denver, Colorado, last October won 2-1 by the USMNT. That fixture was defined by rambunctiousness -- Pochettino called it a "street game" -- and Pulisic suffering an injury after a heavy challenge from Jason Geria.

Just six Australia starters from that contest remained in the XI when the Socceroos defeated Türkiye, however, and second-half substitutes Irankunda and Touré both struggled when they went on in what was their first experience playing at significant altitude.

Eight months on from the defeat -- his first as Australia coach - Popovic feels his unit is much improved... as are the United States.

"We take what we need out of that game," Popovic said. "I'm sure the US would have as well. We wanted to experience playing in the U.S. We experienced playing in altitude. We tested ourselves with travel.

"For us, I can only speak for us, we got what we wanted out of that game. We had a fantastic hit out as a very good opponent. So, we were pleased with that.

"Since then, we feel we've improved. We're a better team now than what we were in October, and I'm sure the U.S. is as well. And so it should be a really good game tomorrow."

Source: https://www.espn.com/soccer/story/_/id/49114334/fifa-world-cup-group-d-socceroos-better-vs-turkiye-to-beat-usmnt-tony-popovic