IRVINE, Calif. – If there’s one player on the current U.S. Men’s National Team roster who remembers vividly what it’s like to play Australia, it’s certainly the game-winning goal scorer, Haji Wright.
The 28-year-old striker played hero the last time the USMNT faced Australia on Oct. 14, 2025, scoring a brace to lead the U.S. to a 2-1 win over an Australian side that, at the time, was riding a 12-match unbeaten streak. On a chilly night in Colorado, Wright’s two goals in the 33rd and 51st minutes powered a U.S. comeback from one-goal down in a game that was part of a five-match unbeaten streak for the Americans against World Cup-bound opponents.
“It was difficult for us to break them down,” Wright remembered from that October meeting. “They’re very tactically disciplined. We had to wait for our moments to find our chances and take our opportunities when they came.”
The U.S. learned the AFC nation would be one of its three group stage opponents at the Final Draw on Dec. 5, 2025, less than two months from seeing each other on the pitch for the first time since 2010. Both teams were drawn into Group D for FIFA World Cup 2026, along with Paraguay and the winner of the UEFA Playoff Path C, a spot Türkiye locked up in March.
Although the U.S. knew it would face Australia again come summer 2026, the recent performances of both teams in their group stage openers have upped the ante for the upcoming meeting. The U.S. and Australia, FIFA’s 27th-ranked team in the world, each impressed in their wins. The U.S. opened Group D play on June 12 with an electrifying 4-1 win over Paraguay, the USMNT’s highest scoring output in FIFA World Cup history. The next day, Australia put in a defensively sound 2-0 victory over Türkiye, managing a clean sheet despite being outshot 30-9.
Each nation collected three points, which placed the U.S. and Australia atop the Group D standings to add even more intrigue to an already high-stakes match at FIFA World Cup 2026.
“They’re tough to break down,” Wright said. “They’re dangerous on counterattacks. They have good players at the top of the pitch. They were able to be effective and damage Türkiye. Türkiye came into the game a bit overconfident. We won’t make that same mistake. We know every team in the tournament is a good team, and they deserve to be here.”
In its match against Türkiye, the Socceroos looked extremely well-organized. Nestory Irankunda, Australia's dynamic, 20-year-old striker, scored an impressive first-half goal to put the Socceroos on the scoresheet against the UEFA Playoff C winners.
Wright was one of 11 unused substitutes in the USA’s opener against Paraguay, which saw a brace from striker Folarin Balogun and a stoppage-time stunner from midfielder Gio Reyna in front of more than 70,000 spectators at Los Angeles Stadium. Wright, a Los Angeles native, appreciated the chance to return to his hometown and see local fans show up with such ardent support, which head coach Mauricio Pochettino lauded after the game.
“That was my first time being in [Los Angeles Stadium],” Wright said. “To see it packed to the brim, to hear the national anthem and everybody singing, it was an amazing feeling. I got goosebumps during the national anthem. That really pumps us up. You can see how the guys started the game and how they finished it. It was amazing.”
If Pochettino decides to leverage Wright this Friday against Australia, it wouldn’t be the striker’s first action at a FIFA World Cup. Wright is one of the 13 returnees on the 26-man roster part of the U.S. squad that traveled to Qatar for FIFA World Cup 2022.
Wright, who made his professional debut in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup as a 16-year-old for the New York Cosmos, even has history scoring on the world’s biggest stage at a FIFA World Cup. In Qatar, Wright recorded the lone goal in the USMNT’s 3-1 loss to the Netherlands in the Round of 16.
This time around, Wright is part of a striker core for the U.S. that entered camp in terrific form. He and his fellow strikers – Balogun and Ricardo Pepi – each led their respective clubs in scoring on the season. Wright led Coventry City with 18 goals in 43 games, third most in the EFL Championship, to help the Sky Blues finish atop the Championship table and earn automatic promotion to the English Premier League. In fact, in the final game of the EFL Championship season, Wright’s Coventry City faced off against Irankunda’s Watford.
“I hope (Wright) can do something special,” USMNT teammate Tyler Adams said. “I’ll take anyone doing anything special. We rely on every single person on this squad. Whenever guys get a chance, they have to be ready to step up. That being said, Haji’s a great player. He showed that again at the Championship, and he’s a huge factor to the reason they got promoted.”
After the June 19 matchup with Australia, the USMNT concludes group play on Thursday, June 25 back in Los Angeles against the team that Australia just defeated, Türkiye. Starting the tournament on such a soaring note with the rout over Paraguay, it might be tempting for the U.S. to look further down the road and overlook the task in front of them. But players are not thinking that way. The U.S. is keeping its mindset on the immediate future, one game at a time.
“We can’t get too ahead of ourselves. It’s time to flip the page,” Adams said. “Australia is an incredibly tough opponent.”
