The U.S. men’s national team has already met one of its 2025 opponents during the FIFA World Cup group stage and Friday will mark a second familiar showdown. Australia awaits Mauricio Pochettino’s men in Seattle, Washington on Friday as Group D play rolls on this month. Both the USMNT and Socceroos picked up three points in their respective opening matches and will now be seeking to make it two wins out of two at the other’s expense. The two teams are no strangers to one another after the Americans downed Australia 2-1 last October in Commerce City, Colorado. Haji Wright’s brace erased a Jordan Bos opening goal for Tony Popovic’s men, while the main storyline was Christian Pulisic’s early exit after enduring some rough challenges. While the USMNT will want to avoid any injuries at Lumen Field, they are ready for the physicality that the Socceroos bring to the field.“It’s going to be a physical game, but a fun game, and we’re excited,” USMNT midfielder Sebastian Berhalter told reporters Tuesday. “[Australia] are going to fight. We like teams that have that brotherhood, you know? We like teams that you can see they’re hungry and that want to fight.”Berhalter was not part of the last head-to-head showdown but has since forced his way into the World Cup roster after a positive 16 months for club and country. The 25-year-old replaced Pulisic in Friday’s 4-1 opening romp of Paraguay, making his tournament debut and helping the Americans cap off a memorable result in Los Angeles. Pochettino has trusted Berhalter since taking over as head coach, rewarding him with 14 caps to date and a potential opportunity to play again this week. Berhalter credited his Argentine head coach for helping instill tenacity in the squad, believing that Pochettino’s mindset has rubbed off on the players. “I think one [belief that Pochettino instilled] is that we’re American. We don’t take s—-,” Berhalter said. “I think that’s something that he really put in. Even though he’s Argentinian, he has that mindset of, like, ‘Look, this is what we do, and this is who we are, and this is what America is about.’ So I think even from an outside perspective, he showed us Americans what we’re about. He really drilled that into us, and I think that’s something that has helped us this last cycle.”The USMNT have grown a lot since their last victory over the Socceroos and there was evidence of that in the result over Paraguay. Now, the focus shifts to Friday’s showdown, where the aggressiveness will surely be high in the first World Cup meeting between the two teams. Unlike Berhalter, Tim Weah was part of the last meeting in October and believes plenty has changed in a good way for the USMNT. “That game in Colorado was fun,” Weah said. “That experience was fun. It was aggressive. I think from that game, we’ve changed a lot. We’ve gotten a bit more aggressive as well.”