United States coach Mauricio Pochettino says his side will need to match Australia's mentality in their mammoth World Cup meeting in Seattle on Friday, saying that the Americans will "need to believe in the same way that they believe," if they want to compete with the Socceroos.
After the United States thumped Paraguay 4-1 and Australia upset Türkiye 2-0 in their opening fixtures, the two nations will head to the Pacific Northwest level on points atop Group D, with both sides capable of locking in top spot in the group if they win and get a favourable result in Paraguay's clash with Türkiye later that day.
Playing on home soil and with expectations of making a deep run in the tournament, the Americans will enter the game as favourites, even with growing doubts surrounding Christian Pulisic's ability to feature in the game at all, let alone potentially start.
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But after watching Australia's dogged defensive performance against the Turks, one in which the Europeans had plenty of possession and shots but never truly dominated, Pochettino said that his side had to win the mental battle just as much as the footballing one.
"What I can say about Australia is obvious; the way that they play," said the coach. "But for me, it's the mentality, the mindset, and the belief. They are a very strong team, really believing in what they are doing.
"When we played against them in Denver [a 2-1 United States win last October], it was one of the most difficult games that we played in all this run to today. [There are] plenty of good things that they do very well, but I think it's obvious, Turkey really saw their capacity to defend in mid-block, in low-block, when they go to press, press high, transition with players that are so fast.
"They build in different ways from back, with three and two, with four and one. I've seen flexibility in the way [they] play that is made difficult to prepare for the game against Australia, because they have different registers of play.
"But, for me, the most important thing is how we need to match the adhesivity and that mentality, that mindset that makes them very dangerous. We need to believe in the same way that they believe, if we want to compete, because they compete really, really well."
Breaking through an Australian backline emboldened by this mindset shapes as a key test for the United States, the Socceroos having consistently clogged up the middle of the park in their win over Türkiye, denying their foes run in behind, and using their size and numbers to contest balls subsequently delivered into the penalty area.
While Folarin Balogun is no slouch in the air on with his back to goal, at 178cm tall he will be surrendering a significant height advantage to Australia's centre back trio of Alessandro Circati, Harry Souttar, and Cameron Burgess -- all of whom are over 190cm tall.
"I have seen that they are very compact," Pochettino said. "They are very aggressive. They have a great organisation. You can see that it was difficult for Turkey to create clear chances. And then, in the moment that they recover the ball, they have arrows, and they transit so quickly, so fast.
"For me, it's the mentality, the coach's mentality, Popovic, I was talking with him, and I really appreciate him and really like him; the mentality of the whole team, they create a great mentality. And it's difficult to play [against] a team that really believes in what they are doing. That is what I like about the team, the football team."
The fitness concerns surrounding Pulisic, meanwhile, hark back to when the AC Milan attacker was injured in the two sides' friendly last October, after he suffered an injury following a collision with defender Jason Geria.
It was a major flashpoint in what was a highly physical clash in the Mile High City, with American defender Chris Richards bombastically declaring post-game, "They're lucky it was a friendly. I was ready to go. And if [the referee] didn't give me a shit yellow in the corner, I probably would've killed somebody."
When asked, however, Pochettino wasn't worried about things bubbling over on Friday, nor the referees not being able to contain the Australians.
"I trust in the referees," he said. "When you play a non-official game, it's completely different. The games become more street games -- no friendlies, a street game, with nothing friendly. Tomorrow, there is no doubt that the referees are top-level. The referees who will be in the VAR are top-level, and I have no doubt,
"We need to play on the edge of the line, not crossing the lines of the rules. We are going to try to be very close to this thin line that allows us to take some advantage."