The Albany Gazette - USA down Australia to reach World Cup knockout rounds, Brazil swat Haiti

A day after Mexico sealed their place in the knockout rounds, the USA emulated their fellow World Cup co-hosts with a clinical Group D win over Australia in Seattle.

A Cameron Burgess own goal in the 11th minute and a headed effort from Alex Freeman two minutes before half-time sealed a comfortable win for Mauricio Pochettino's side, who have advanced to the second phase of the tournament with a game to spare.

After an unconvincing build-up to the World Cup, the Americans have made a dream start to the tournament with Friday's victory following a stylish 4-1 demolition of Paraguay in their opening game last week.

The co-hosts could even clinch first place in Group D later on Friday if Turkey lose or draw against Paraguay in the late match.

"It was a fantastic game again, very good first half," Pochettino said. "I think we dominated the game against a very tough team.

"When the draw happened in December I thought it was going to be a really difficult, a really tough game."

Australia coach Tony Popovic blamed "lethargy" for his team's loss.

"We were slow to every ball, and we couldn't really wrestle back any momentum, which made it difficult," Popovic said.

"We conceded a couple of really soft goals but we just looked flat and lethargic in the first half."

- Brazil romp, Scotland stumble -

In other games on Friday, Brazil took control of their destiny in Group C with a 3-0 victory over Haiti that ended the Caribbean nation's chances of reaching the last 32.

Two goals from Manchester United striker Matheus Cunha and a Vinicius Junior strike sealed a comfortable win for the Brazilians in a one-sided game at Philadelphia's Lincoln Financial Field.

The result ensured Haiti will finish bottom of Group C and are the first team to be eliminated from contention for a place in the knockout rounds.

Brazil's victory though was marred by an apparent injury to star forward Raphinha, who left the game in the 40th minute after an innocuous-looking tussle with Haiti defender Martin Experience.

Brazil are now level on four points with Morocco in Group C, but lead the North Africans on goal difference.

Morocco secured their first win of the tournament on Friday with a 1-0 defeat of Scotland at Foxborough, Massachusetts.

Ismael Saibari scored the games's only goal, lashing home a thunderous angled strike in the second minute to leave the Scots reeling.

Morocco will face Haiti in their final Group C game on June 24, while Brazil take on the Scots in Miami.

"Tonight we showed we can compete with the teams in the top 10. Brazil will be a different game, they play with less structure but they have quality that can hurt you at any point," Scotland's John McGinn said.

"We will need to be at our best. We know what we need to do to try to get through to the next round."

- Iranian complaints -

Off the field, a leading Iranian football official said on Friday that Iran's treatment at the World Cup was a "dark point" in the history of the competition.

Hedayat Mombeyni, the secretary general of the Iranian football federation, was speaking to reporters the day after his organization said it would lodge a complaint with FIFA, claiming the team was being subjected to travel restrictions that were jeopardizing its performance.

Iran wanted to fly from their base camp in Tijuana, Mexico, to Los Angeles two days before their next match, against Belgium on Sunday.

But the Iranian federation said its request was turned down.

The US administration has pushed back against the Iranian demands.

(P.Clark--TAG)