Dugout Discussion
26 June 2026 3 comments
TopMarx TopMarx
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Group D concludes with Australia facing Paraguay and co-hosts the USA taking on Turkey.

With the USA already confirmed as group D winners, and Turkey already eliminated, the match is a dead rubber. Turkey have only pride to play for.

The other game will decide second and third place. Australia and Paraguay are level on three points, although the Aussies have a slight edge given their superior goal difference, meaning they only need a draw to secure second spot.

In fact, a draw would be good for both teams, as it would see Paraguay through to the knockout stages as one of the best third-placed sides. Shades of the Disgrace of Gijón perhaps?

Both matches get underway at 03:00 BST.

TEAM NEWS

Only Weston McKennie ($6.1m) and Ricardo Pepi ($5.9m) keep their places for the USA as Mauricio Pochettino rotates his squad.

Turkey, too, see plenty of changes, with Arda Guler ($7.0m) one of just four survivors from the round 2 defeat to Paraguay.

The South Amercians, in contrast, have made just three alterations from that match, one of them enforced, with Miguel Almiron ($6.0m) suspended following his red card.

And Australia make use of their squad with seven changes from round 2.

In terms of ownership, Sergino Dest ($4.3m) and Alexander Freeman ($4.0m) are the only players from any of the four teams selected by more than five per cent of managers, and neither of them start.

LINE-UPS

Paraguay XI: Orlando Gill, Juan José Cáceres, Gustavo Velázquez, Gustavo Gómez, Omar Alderete, Alexandro Maidana, Andrés Cubas, Diego Gómez, Matías Galarza Fonda, Gabriel Ávalos, Julio Enciso

Subs: G. Fernandez, G. Olveira, F. Balbuena, J. Alonso, R. Sosa, A. Sanabria, P. Mauricio, J. Canale, D. Bobadilla, A. Romero, A. Arce, B. Ojeda, G. Caballero, I. Pitta

Australia XI: Patrick Beach, Lucas Herrington, Alessandro Circati, Harry Souttar, Jordan Bos, Aziz Behich, Connor Metcalfe, Aiden O’Neill, Jackson Irvine, Nestory Irankunda, Cristian Volpato

Subs: M. Ryan, P. Izzo, M. Degenek, J. Geria, M. Toure, A. Hrustic, A. Mabil, C. Devlin, K. Trewin, C. Burgess, N. Velupillay, P. Okon-Engstler, T. Yengi


Turkey XI: Uğurcan Çakır, Zeki Çelik, Ozan Kabak, Abdülkerim Bardakcı, Eren Elmalı, Salih Özcan, Orkun Kökçü, Oğuz Aydın, Arda Güler, Kenan Yıldız, Barış Alper Yılmaz

Subs: M. Gunok, A. Bayindir, M. Demiral, C. Soyuncu, K. Akturkoglu, D. Gul, H. Calhanoglu, I. Yuksek, I. Kahveci, M. Muldur, Y. Akgun, F. Kadioglu, K. Ayhan, S. Akaydin, C. Uzun

USA XI: Matt Turner, Joe Scally, Auston Trusty, Miles Robinson, Mark McKenzie, Sebastian Berhalter, Weston McKennie, Brenden Aaronson, Giovanni Reyna, Timothy Weah, Ricardo Pepi

Subs: M. Freese, C. Brady, S. Dest, C. Richards, T. Adams, A. Robinson, C. Pulisic, T. Ream, A. Freeman, M. Tillman, M. Arfsten, H. Wright, F. Balogun, A. Zendejas


TopMarx Fan of Fantasy Football and Monty Python. "Archimedes out to Socrates, Socrates back to Archimedes, Archimedes out to Heraclitus, he beats Hegel. Heraclitus a little flick, here he comes on the far post, Socrates is there, Socrates heads it in! Socrates has scored! The Greeks are going mad, the Greeks are going mad! Socrates scores, got a beautiful cross from Archimedes. The Germans are disputing it. Hegel is arguing that the reality is merely an a priori adjunct of non-naturalistic ethics, Kant via the categorical imperative is holding that ontologically it exists only in the imagination, and Marx is claiming it was offside. Follow them on Twitter

3 Comments Login to Post a Comment
  1. sunzip14
    • 9 Years
    2 hours, 1 min ago

    My Predictions:

    Paraguay 1-0 Australia
    USA 2- 1 Turkey

    Agree?

    1. TopMarx
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • Has Moderation Rights
      • 13 Years
      1 hour, 48 mins ago

      Agree with the Paraguay scoreline, I wonder if Turkey may beat the USA though, and finally convert a few of their shots into goals. I'm going 2-1 Turkey

      1. The Knights Template
        • 12 Years
        1 hour, 8 mins ago

        Dreadful, dreadful predicting, the both of you! Subway Socceroos 3-1!