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Australians gathered in their thousands before sunrise, holding babies, heading home from nightclubs or heading off to work, to watch the Socceroos face off against the US.

Energised by a surprise victory over Turkey, crowds gathered in every capital city on Saturday morning, with two in Melbourne and extra screenings in Sydney’s west.

In Sydney’s Darling Harbour, the crowd’s roar boomed across empty city streets ahead of kickoff at 5am. Over 12,000 attended, with hundreds watching on from nearby hills and balconies after being turned away from the Tumbalong Park’s live site.

Melbourne’s Federation Square reached capacity an hour before kickoff. Police said 7,500 attended, with another 8,900 at Aami park.

Police said they used horses for crowd control as fans pushed through the venue’s barriers and lit flares, with no reported injuries.

Close to a dozen flares lit up Sydney’s Tumbalong Park on Saturday. Police said they arrested two 20-year-old men for lighting flares early in the second half while another man, 20, was hit in the face by a flare and taken to St Vincent’s Hospital.

Teenagers and young men swarmed the barricade at Darling Harbour, gleefully chanting “wanker, wanker” as US players appeared on screen.

A calmer mood prevailed further back from the barricades, where young couples, older fans and families with small children cheered along. Green and gold jerseys, scarves and beanies were everywhere but not a single American flag in sight.

Andrew Reis, watching from a picnic blanket with his wife, three young children and a family friend said the viewing was “super safe, super chill”.

“The flares [were] pretty fun to see,” he said. “The only bad part is we’re down [by] two.”

Sally and Jodie, who didn’t give their surnames, shared Reis’ angst at the US 2-0 Australia halftime score line.

“It’s pretty tense and pretty frustrating,” said Sally. “After last week, I thought maybe we were in for a bit of shock, but maybe this morning not feeling quite so confident.”

Jodie, a long-time Socceroos fan, said she was hopeful after Nestory Irankunda, hero of the Turkey game, took the field.

“It’s a long way to come back from now,” Jodie said.

She was just grateful to swap watching matches in bed at 2am for a crowd in the morning.

“And I’m half Scottish so I’m like going straight to the pub after this. It is a long morning,” Jodie said.

The first rays of sun lit the Sydney skyline at 6:30am, just as Irankunda was fouled while leading a comeback attempt. Venue staff and camera crews ducked for cover as outraged fans pelted water bottles at the screen.

With little to celebrate, the crowd cheered loudest when US players were finally carded. The loudest boos came as the referee Felix Zwayer suffered a cramp, after the German gave the Australians four yellow cards and 15 fouls.

The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, cheered the players’ endurance – and patience.

“They played out the entire 90 minutes, plus six, plus a little bit extra for the referee getting cramp, something I haven’t seen before,” Albanese said.

By sunrise at 7am, the game was all but over and Lachlan Rixon, a joiner, left for work on a site up the street, near Circular Quay.

Rixon had met up with his friend Matthew Kontogiorgis at the game, who had just left a nearby nightclub after a few vodka Red Bulls two hours earlier.

“[I] pull an all-nighter, I say to the boys, ‘Alright listen, I’m leaving here early so I can go down to the football,” Kontogiorgis said.

Huss, who didn’t give his surname, and his friends also came out to the match after an all-nighter, carrying Australian flags aloft.

“Unfortunately we didn’t get much of a chance to fly it because there’s nothing really much to celebrate,” Huss said.

“I’m proud of the Aussies, how we brought it back in the second half, it was a tough day. We’ll look to come back with Paraguay next week.”

– with AAP