Turkey Stuns the USMNT With a 98th-Minute Winner Before the Knockouts

Mauricio Pochettino had already guided the United States into the Round of 32 as Group D winners, so Thursday night in Los Angeles was really meant to be about momentum rather than survival. He used the finale against an eliminated Turkish team to rest his key starters and weighed in on the strength of his depth. That experiment ended in a 3-2 defeat, settled by a Turkish goal in the final seconds of stoppage time in front of a home crowd of over 70,000 people.

Things could hardly have started better for the hosts. Auston Trusty smashed home a Berhalter coroner inside three minutes, the second fastest goal in U.S men’s World Cup history, and the third game in a row in which the Americans scored within the opening ten minutes. For Trusty, a Philadelphia-area native who had been a reserve all tournament, it was his first national team goal.

The lead did not last long. Arda Guler, the Real Madrid playmaker, slipped in behind Mark McKenzie and Miles Robinson to level the match in the 10th minute, and Orkun Kokcu put Turkey ahead before halftime with the kind of quick passing move that had escaped them all tournament. This was a side that had taken 62 shots across its first two games without scoring a single goal, the most of any nation in this World Cup.

Berhalter hauled the Americans back level early in the second half, collecting a loose ball at the top of the box and lashing a first-time finish through traffic. The U.S. looked likely to win it from there, especially after Christian Pulisic entered in the 58th minute in his return from a calf injury and rattled the post. The match turned when Trusty limped off with a knock to his ankle, by which point Pochettino had already used up every substitution. A man short and disorganized, the U.S. failed to clear a loose ball in the 98th minute, and Kaan Ayhan poked the winner under goalkeeper Matt Turner with the final touch of the night.

What this loss reveals

There is a version of this game that reads as encouraging. The reserves scored twice, controlled long stretches, and pushed an opponent that finally had something to prove. Pulisic’s return mattered as well, more than the result itself, and he looked sharp across his half hour on the field.

However, the concerns are way harder to brush aside. The defense lost Guler far too easily on the equalizer, and the breakdown on the winning goal, with too many players watching the ball as Turkey worked it into the box, is the sort of lapse a knockout opponent punishes without a second thought. Herhalter said as much afterward, admitting the team “let some moments get away from us.” The standings did not move either, but the night ended with Pochettino getting a late look at how steep the drop is from his first eleven to everyone behind them.

The focus now is on Bosnia & Herzegovina

The window for experiments finally closed, and now every decision matters. The Americans open the Round of 32 against Bosnia on July 1 in Santa Clara, and the starters who watched from the bench will be back in the side. Pulisic’s fitness is the headline, and his cameo against Turkey suggested he is nearly back to full speed.

Weston McKennie, the only American to start all three group games, found the right words afterward. He called Turkey “very clinical” and said the defeat would only sharpen the group for the knockout. Losing a game that did not count is not how the U.S. wanted to enter the bracket, but the road ahead is very much wide open. The difference now is that the mistakes that cost them last night will end the tournament once it becomes a win, or a go-home situation.