By Sam Tobin
SEATTLE, June 19 (Reuters) - The United States advanced to the World Cup knockout stage with a dominant performance against Australia on Friday, an early own goal and a simple header from Alex Freeman giving the co-hosts a comfortable 2-0 win.
Just as they had in their 4-1 victory over Paraguay, the U.S. forced an own goal to open the scoring, with Cameron Burgess the unfortunate defender.
Freeman nodded in just before the break, the goal initially ruled out for offside but given on review,
prompting the U.S. bench to flood the pitch in celebration.
Australia coach Tony Popovic dropped both goalscorers, Nestory Irankunda and Connor Metcalfe, from the Socceroos' 2-0 win over Turkey and brought them on at halftime to try to turn the tide.
But they rarely looked like getting back into the match in a second half which became increasingly fractious and lacked quality.
The U.S. moved on to six points and into the last 32 before their last game against Turkey on Thursday in Los Angeles. They will top Group D if Turkey do not beat Paraguay later on Friday.
Australia remain second on three points and next face Paraguay in San Francisco.
U.S. INTO LAST-32 WITH GAME TO SPARE
The U.S. started slightly nervously in front of a full house but quickly settled into the match, with Weston McKennie particularly influential, and took a well-earned lead in the 11th minute.
Folarin Balogun tore down the left flank and played the ball towards Ricardo Pepi, replacing the injured Christian Pulisic, and the covering Burgess sent the ball into his own net.
Australia struggled to get out of their own half as the U.S. maintained control, with Australia's best moment of the first half coming just before the hydration break, when Freeman blocked Mathew Leckie's threatening cross.
The U.S. finally got the second goal their dominance deserved in the 43rd minute: a free kick was played to Sergino Dest on the edge of the area and his shot was blocked, but looped into the air with goalkeeper Patrick Beach on the floor to give Freeman the simplest of headers.
The second half was low on incident, with the U.S. content to protect their lead and conserve energy, though Australia's Harry Souttar missed a golden opportunity with five minutes to play which could have set up a tense finale.
(Reporting by Sam Tobin and Rory Carroll, editing by Ed Osmond)
