Australia’s unbeaten record under Tony Popovic goes on the line; kick-off time, scores and results from Colorado

Mauricio Pochettino is bracing for an “aggressive” test from the Socceroos as his United States side aims to get their home World Cup preparations on track in Wednesday’s (AEDT) friendly.

The former Tottenham Hotspur, Paris Saint-Germain and Chelsea manager has been in charge of the US national team since September last year – around the same time when Tony Popovic took the reins for Australia.

His tenure thus far has been mixed; they lost the final of the CONCACAF Gold Cup to Mexico in July, and have won only one of their past four games, a 2-0 victory over a largely second-string Japan at home, amid some consternation within the American game about his future.

Last week, the US drew 1-1 with Ecuador, a side who Pochettino compared in favourable terms to Popovic’s Socceroos.

Pochettino said Australia was much further along in developing their on-field identity than the United States, who are ranked No.16 in the world but are under pressure to live up to not only the expectations that come with being a host nation at a World Cup, but the individual quality within their squad, which includes the likes of AC Milan star Christian Pulisic, Juventus midfielder Weston McKennie and a handful of others seeing regular minutes in top European leagues.

“Australia is a team [that is] very aggressive and they came from a very good run of games. They are unbeaten for a long time, and they beat Canada in Canada. I think we need to respect [them],” he said.

“They are going to be another good test, like Ecuador, for us.

“They are in a different process than us. We are in that process that we need progression, we need to build something – and they are more solid in their ideas. I don’t believe that they are going to change in the way that they are going to play. They are going, I think, to keep the same shape and the way they were playing also in the last year. They are a team that is managed very well. I’m happy to face a team like Australia.”

The Socceroos are unbeaten in 11 games under Popovic and have won their last seven in a row, following their hard-fought 1-0 win against Canada.

“We’re looking always for top opposition, challenges that can make it difficult for us. We had that against Canada and we expect the same against the US,” Popovic said.

“They’ve got a wonderful manager, they’ve got players that are playing at the peak of their powers in the best leagues in the world, so we want to challenge ourselves. That’s why we happily took on these two games and we’d like to grow further from the Canada match and try and improve and take that into another difficult encounter.”