Pochettino's U.S. Team Faces Stoppage Time Defeat to Turkey
Mauricio Pochettino has spent 18 months ripping up the manual with the U.S. national team. On Thursday night, the bill finally arrived.
With qualification already sealed and first place in the group within reach, he spun the roulette wheel one more time, made nine changes, and watched a heavily rotated U.S. side concede deep into stoppage time to lose 3-2 to Turkey. Kaan Ayhan’s scruffy, last-gasp winner didn’t just end the Americans’ unbeaten start at this World Cup. It cut straight across the swagger they’d built with commanding wins over Paraguay and Australia.
Pochettino insists it hasn’t.
“The objective was to finish first and we are first,” he said. “Now it is the next stage and it is going to be a final. And we are ready. We are much better than before that game because we had players now with 90 minutes in their legs and performing and really to help if we need from the beginning or after from the bench.
“It’s all positive. And I am so positive and I am happy.”
We’ll find out on Wednesday in Santa Clara, when the U.S. (2-1-0) meets Bosnia and Herzegovina, the third-place team from Group B, in the round of 32.
Rotation, records and a late punch
This was rotation on a scale no American coach had dared at a World Cup. Nine new starters from the Australia game. A total of 21 players given a start in the group phase. When Alejandro Zendejas came on in the 76th minute, he became the 23rd U.S. player to see the field at this tournament, another record.
For a while, it looked like another Pochettino masterstroke.
Barely three minutes in, Auston Trusty, a surprise inclusion, justified the gamble. Sebastian Berhalter, making his first World Cup start, whipped a long, right-footed corner across the face of goal. Trusty killed it with his first touch, then lashed a left-footed shot from the far edge of the six-yard box between Ugurcan Cakir and the near post.
Second-fastest U.S. goal in World Cup history. A dream start. A coach vindicated.
The lead lasted seven minutes.
Turkey, playing in its first World Cup since 2002 and already eliminated after two defeats, played like a team with nothing to lose and a point to prove. Arda Guler slipped away from Mark McKenzie at the penalty spot, latched onto Kenan Yildiz’s pass and lifted a left-footed finish over Matt Turner in the 10th minute. One shot faced, one goal conceded. For the first time in this tournament, the U.S. had let a lead slip.
The second Turkish attack on target hurt even more. In the 31st minute, Eren Elmali drove a ball across the box and Orkun Kokcu met it near the six-yard line, redirecting past Turner. In half an hour, the U.S. had gone from cruising to chasing, staring at their first deficit of the World Cup.
Turkey leaned into the chaos. Fouls, little kicks, constant niggle. A chippy, frustrated side taking out its early exit on the group winners.
Berhalter shines, Pulisic returns, chances wasted
The U.S. needed a response. Four minutes into the second half, Berhalter delivered it.
A loose ball spilled out to the top of the area. Turkey’s defenders backed off. Berhalter stayed calm, set himself and skipped a right-footed shot just inside the near post to level the game at 2-2.
“The ball just popped out and I knew if I just stayed calm and just made a swing motion, that I had a chance,” he said. “You practice those a lot and to see that go in was awesome.”
A goal and an assist in his first World Cup start. On a night of experiments, Berhalter looked like a discovery.
Then came the moment every U.S. fan had been waiting on: Christian Pulisic back on the pitch.
Ten minutes after the equalizer, Pochettino sent on his captain, who had been nursing a left calf issue and hadn’t played since the opening half of the first game. Pulisic immediately tilted the field. Three dangerous surges up the left, defenders backpedaling, the crowd rising each time.
The final touch never came. Crosses flashed across the box, runs went unrewarded, shots never quite materialized. The pressure was there. The goal wasn’t.
The waste proved brutal when the clock ticked into stoppage time.
Ayhan, hemmed in by three U.S. defenders, found just enough space in a scramble in front of Turner’s goal and poked the ball home. Turkey’s only win of the tournament, on its last touch of the World Cup. The U.S. walking off with their first loss, their clean group-stage record gone in an instant.
“You can always take these things as fuel, having that moment in the last one where they score,” Brenden Aaronson said. “It’s tough. We wanted to walk away with no losses in the group stage. But it was still a fantastic group stage.
“Not worried whatsoever. We’re going to move on to the next one and be ready to go for Bosnia.”
Risk, reward and what comes next
Strip away the late drama and the numbers still tell Pochettino’s story. No American coach has ever made this many changes between World Cup games. No U.S. team has ever spread minutes this widely in the group stage. He wanted a fresh, battle-tested squad for the knockouts. He has it.
Berhalter believes that matters.
“We know everyone’s ready to step up at any moment,” he said. “I think you saw that today. We let some moments get away from us, but I thought the performances overall were good.
“It’s every little kid’s dream across the United States of America to play in a home World Cup, and just in a World Cup in general. People made their debuts today, so congratulations everyone. This is what everybody looks forward to.”
The question now is whether that breadth of experience outweighs the sting of a stoppage-time defeat. Whether the rhythm built against Paraguay and Australia carries through, or whether Turkey’s last swing leaves a mark.
Pochettino is betting on his way. On the minutes in tired legs. On the belief that a group tested, rotated and trusted will be sharper when the stakes spike.
Bosnia and Herzegovina await in Santa Clara. The experiments are over. From here on, there are no do-overs.
