INGLEWOOD, Calif. — It would be easy to dismiss the 3-2 U.S. loss to Türkiye on Thursday as a meaningless setback at the end of an otherwise terrific two weeks — a misstep before the vital stage of the World Cup begins.
Most of Mauricio Pochettino’s top players watched from the bench or played less than a half. The result did not shake the U.S. from its perch atop Group D or, judging from postgame comments, shake its confidence.
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Buoyed by two resounding victories, this is a team unified in its pursuit of something special on home soil. The do-or-die segment of this summer’s soccer spectacle awaits, with the Americans to face Bosnia and Herzegovina in the Round of 32 on Wednesday in Santa Clara, California.
Thursday’s loss shouldn’t affect the U.S., but moments that contributed to the loss can’t be ignored. There were positive developments, too.
Here are a few takeaways:
Lapses are magnified at the World Cup and surely will be punished
The U.S. was feeling pretty good about itself after scoring in the first 10 minutes for the third consecutive match, but lost its defensive concentration and fell behind before halftime.
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Türkiye’s movement and collaboration were troublesome, and the Americans didn’t handle the pressure well. They regrouped in the second half, tied the match on Sebastian Berhalter‘s scorching shot and seemed on their way to a relatively satisfying draw.
But in the dying moments, they failed to see out the match.
Christian Pulisic and Gio Reyna react after the USMNT‘s 3-2 loss to Türkiye in its final World Cup group stage match Thursday at SoFi Stadium.
(Robert Gauthier via Getty Images)
Christian Pulisic was nutmegged on the dribble by the magnificent Arda Güler and, a few passes later, goalkeeper Matt Turner was nutmegged on Can Uzun‘s shot. Kaan Ayhan was on the back end to poke in the match-winner on what turned out to be the last touch of the night.
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“In a different game with maybe different consequences, maybe we approached the last five to seven minutes a little bit differently,” Turner said. “We were caught up in the moment. I think we all wanted to really go for it and try to score and try to give the fans one last big thing to cheer for.”
Winger Tim Weah referenced the 2022 tournament in Qatar, where the Americans showed their naivete in a Round-of-16 loss to the Netherlands. That roster had only one player with World Cup experience. This one has 13.
“Even when we look back at ’22, we made a couple mistakes against the Netherlands, and that cost us being in the tournament longer,” Weah said. “Those little mistakes are something you have to fix.”
Overall, the U.S. allowed too many opportunities.
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“The quality of chances that we surrendered were too high,” Turner said.
Christian Pulisic didn’t miss a beat
There were questions whether the star forward was even going to play Thursday. He had recovered from a calf injury, but with nothing at stake, Pochettino needed to decide how important it was to get him minutes before the next stage.
Pulisic entered earlier than expected (in the 58th minute) and made an immediate impact with his dashing runs into the box and threats on goal.
He looked sharp — a clear indication the injury is behind him and he’ll return to the starting lineup next week.
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“You saw his quality and you saw when he came in, the impact he had,” Berhalter said. “He’s our guy.”
With Pulisic back, Folarin Balogun returning to the lineup and Weston McKennie returning to an advanced role next week, the first-choice attack is poised to pick up where it left off last week.
This was not the top U.S. team
We can harp on the mistakes and the goals conceded and the gutting way it ended, but a much stronger team will take the field at Levi’s Stadium on Wednesday.
And players who otherwise were not going to start in the group stage received valuable playing time, which should better prepare them for possible assignments in the knockout round.
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If the Americans are able to turn the page quickly, they’ll be fine.
“I believe in this team,” Weah said. “I think we’ve done such a great job to get to this point. When you look at the previous games against Australia and Paraguay, we just have to keep that same mentality.”
