Mauricio Pochettino made nine changes to the USA starting lineup as the team began the game in the unprecedented situation of already having won their group at the World Cup. Only Weston McKennie (who wore the captain’s armband) and Ricardo Pepi remained from the starting XI versus Australia. Folarin Balogun, Chris Richards, Tyler Adams, and Antonee Robinson were all carrying yellow cards from the first two games, and they were excluded to help make sure they won’t be suspended for the next game.
The team also lined up in a changed formation. After playing essentially a 3-4-2-1 in the opening two games, Pochettino opted for more of a 4-3-3, with Sebastian Berhalter playing deeper in the midfield and Gio Reyna and McKennie more advanced. Auston Trusty, typically a centerback although he has played on the left, played out wide as a left back, and Joe Scally played on the right – a night-and-day change from Sergiño Dest and Antonee Robinson as wingbacks in the 3-4-2-1.
This much-changed USA team started with incredible energy in front of a phenomenal atmosphere in Los Angeles, immediately getting in on Türkiye’s goal with multiple chances early on, and created multiple set pieces, which were dangerous and threatening, culminating in Auston Trusty receiving Sebastian Berhalter’s corner kick with a deft first touch and smashing it home at the near post to open the scoring for the USA in just the third minute. The stadium was rocking, and the party had officially kicked off.
Turkish and Real Madrid midfielder Arda Güler was electric early on, and in the 10th minute he put a filthy move on Mark McKenzie that opened up the American defense enough for Güler to play a one-two with Yilmaz and score an equalizer. Twenty-one minutes later, it was Güler again who played the ball that beat the back line, allowing a Turkish runner to square the ball to Orkun Kökçü, who gave Türkiye a 2-1 lead.
Algerian referee Mustapha Ghorbal decided to leave his own unique imprint on the game by allowing nearly all fouls and contact, at least early on, which Türkiye took advantage of, winning duels and loose balls through physicality and aggression. There were multiple first-half moments where fouls were so aggressive that players were immediately up in each other’s faces, despite the fact that the ball was still in play because Ghorbal had not actually whistled for a foul.
The second half was also very eventful, but we are going to keep that very brief. In the 49th minute, a USA throw-in ended up with Sebastian Berhalter outside the box, where he smashed it low and hard, bringing the USA level at 2-2. Perhaps the best news of the night for USA fans is that Christian Pulisic entered the game in the 58th minute and was very lively, creating several chances and nearly scoring a curling effort on goal. Then in the final moments of the game, Türkiye created an attack that had the US defense all over the place, Matt Turner came out of goal to try to block a shot from close-range, and the deflection fell to Kaan Ayhan, who got the last-gasp winner for a 3-2 Türkiye victory. It was encouraging to hear the home fans belting out “Take Me Home, Country Roads” despite the game ultimately culminating in a loss.
On to the round of thirty-two.
