Coach Mauricio Pochettino promised that the World Cup co-hosts’ significant momentum would not be derailed by the United States’ 2-3 loss to Turkey on Thursday in an action-packed dead rubber match.
The US, who had already been declared Group D victors, had come to Los Angeles hoping to continue their winning streak with a third victory, but they were also keeping a close eye on their matchup with Bosnia-Herzegovina in the round of 32 on Wednesday.
Restoring some pride was the primary goal for Turkey, who had already been eliminated and had not even scored a goal following crushing defeats to Australia and Paraguay.
The United States lost to a Kaan Ayhan goal deep in stoppage time after taking the lead early and then recovering an equalizer after two goals from Turkey.
“We had other priorities. We did want to win, we wanted the victory, but there were other things that we need to balance out, and I made the very best decisions,” AFP quoted Pochettino, who made nine changes to his lineup ahead of the Bosnia clash, as saying.
“What does it mean to win three (group) matches if you’re going to be losing the next one, and you’re not going to be winning the World Cup?” he asked a notably tense and spiky press conference after the game.
The United States enjoyed a fantastic start to the third consecutive game. Auston Trusty, the backup center-half, scored an unmarked goal from a corner at the far post. At just under three minutes, it was the second-fastest goal by the United States at a World Cup and the Celtic defender’s first goal for his country.
However, Turkey refused to give up. The Turks, and their top player Arda Guler, were fortunate for the 63rd time after failing to score in 62 attempts during their first two games. With a cunning fake, the Real Madrid attacker tricked Mark McKenzie, letting the ball go down the right flank to Baris Alper Yilmaz.
In the tenth minute, Yilmaz passed it back to Guler, who hammered it past Matt Turner to tie the score. As Turkey’s bench rushed the field to protest a foul by the belligerent Sebastian Berhalter, who received a yellow, the game threatened to turn into a fight club, with Brad Pitt and Edward Norton among the Hollywood crowd.
McKenzie, the second US center back to put the ball in the net, gave the Americans hope that they had regained the lead, but the goal was disallowed.
For the first time this World Cup, the United States was behind in the 31st minute. After seeing Eren Elmali’s overlapping run, Guler fed it to the wing-back, who cut the ball back from the left byline to Yilmaz, who steered it past the goalkeeper.
For the US, the halftime break proved to be the ideal remedy. McKenzie’s long throw put them back on level in the 49th minute. Turkey only cleared the ball as far as Berhalter, who did a good job of smashing his shot low into the bottom corner.
Just before the hour mark, Pochettino threw in Christian Pulisic, who is without a doubt the biggest star in US soccer, and the stadium roared once more. Having not played since worsening an injury against Paraguay two weeks ago, Pulisic—dubbed “Captain America”—earned his own wave of “USA” cheers.
Pulisic appeared energetic right away, and after darting runs from the left, his attempts were twice denied from close range. A ball that looped off his shin onto the post was something he was less familiar with. Turkey started pounding on the door once more. Ayhan ruined the US party by smashing the ball home from close range far into stoppage time.
After the final whistle, the American players gathered in a circle, resolved not to let the gut punch ruin a campaign that had gotten off to a great start, while Turkey was celebrating.
“If we (had won) the game, is it going to change my mood, my momentum? No. Winning this game, or not winning this game, it’s not going to change,” said Pochettino.
