The Sports Guru
A team already out beat a team already through, and the scoreline barely mattered to either. This covers Turkey's 3-2 win over the USA in Los Angeles, settled by a 98th-minute goal that meant little beyond pride, and the moment that actually counted for the co-hosts: Christian Pulisic walking back on, fit again, just in time for the part of the tournament that matters.
There is a strange freedom in a game that decides nothing, and both these teams played with it. Turkey were already eliminated. The USA were already group winners. What followed was a loose, open contest that Turkey eventually won 3-2 through Kaan Ayhan's goal in the 98th minute, a result that restored a little Turkish pride and cost the Americans nothing but their unbeaten record. The visiting bench will not have minded the defeat. They had something better to take from the night, and he wears the number ten.
Six goals in a game that decided nothing
The USA started as though the result mattered, Auston Trusty heading them in front from a corner inside three minutes. Turkey, who had spent two games unable to find the net, suddenly could not stop scoring. Arda Guler levelled with a clinical finish on 10 minutes, and after Mark McKenzie had a USA goal ruled out for offside on the half-hour, Baris Yilmaz turned in from close range a minute later to put Vincenzo Montella's side ahead. For a team whose tournament was already over, it was a curious surge of the cutting edge they had lacked when it counted.
It did not last unanswered. Sebastian Berhalter hauled the USA level straight after half-time, driving a low finish in from the edge of the box on 49 minutes. The game had the shape of one drifting towards a draw that suited the mood if not the standings, two sides trading chances without the tension that competitive jeopardy brings. Turkey had been here before in this group and come away with nothing, having failed to score across a defeat to Australia and a goalless effort against Paraguay in which 62 shots brought no reward. Here, finally, the finishing arrived.
Pulisic returns, and finds the post
The reason Mauricio Pochettino will have left content arrived on 58 minutes, when Christian Pulisic replaced Timothy Weah for his first appearance since limping out of the opening fixture with a calf injury. He looked sharp from the moment he stepped on. On 64 minutes a looping effort was pushed onto the post by Turkey goalkeeper Ugurcan Cakir, the closest anyone came to a moment of real quality, and Cakir denied him again after Pulisic raced onto a Berhalter pass he had controlled brilliantly on his chest. It was three shots in a lively cameo from a player the USA cannot do without. The AC Milan forward, scorer of 33 goals in 87 internationals, was easing himself back rather than chasing a goal that meant nothing, and the half-hour on the pitch did exactly the job Pochettino wanted.
What the USA could not legislate for was the ending. Deep into stoppage time, fellow substitute Can Uzun sent in a cross-shot and Ayhan forced it over the line on 90+8 to win it for Turkey at the death. It handed the Americans their first defeat of the tournament and gave Turkey a send-off with a pulse, the consolation of a win on the way out. For Montella, it was proof of a team that had finally clicked too late to matter. For the USA, it was a footnote to a night whose real value sat on the substitutes' board.
A footnote for the hosts, a knockout date to come
USA midfielder Winston McKennie was clear that the result would sting in the right way. "Turkey were very clinical and finished their chances," he said. "The momentum will still be there for us, for sure. Everyone wants to go into the next game having won the previous game, but I think it's going to motivate us even more." He spoke, too, of a deep squad ready to share the load. "All 26 players we have on this roster can step up and do the job. We believe in everyone on this roster." On Pulisic, the verdict was simple: "He's a special player. He can come in and be that player to create something out of thin air."
The wider table reads kindly for the co-hosts. The USA finished as Group D winners, their opening win over Paraguay and victory against Australia having long since secured top spot, and a single dead-rubber defeat does nothing to dent that. They now face Bosnia-Herzegovina, the Group B third-place finishers, in the round of 32 at 1am on Thursday July 2. Pochettino will hope a fully fit Pulisic is the difference in the games that actually carry weight. Turkey, meanwhile, go home with a win and the nagging sense of a tournament that turned up a fortnight too late.
Frequently Asked Questions
Turkey beat the USA 3-2 in their Group D match at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles, watched by 70,492. Auston Trusty put the USA ahead early, before Arda Guler and Baris Yilmaz turned it around for Turkey. Sebastian Berhalter equalised for the USA after half-time, but substitute Kaan Ayhan won it for Turkey in the 98th minute. The defeat was the USA's first of the tournament, though they had already qualified as group winners.
No. The USA had already secured top spot in Group D before kick-off and were assured of a place in the round of 32 regardless of the result. Turkey, meanwhile, were already eliminated after back-to-back defeats to Australia and Paraguay. The game was effectively a dead rubber, which is why both teams played with such freedom. Turkey's win earned pride rather than progress, and the USA's defeat carried no cost to their knockout place.
Christian Pulisic came on as a 58th-minute substitute for his first appearance since suffering a calf injury in the USA's opening fixture, and he looked sharp. He struck the post with a looping effort and was twice denied by Turkey goalkeeper Ugurcan Cakir during a lively cameo of three shots. The AC Milan forward, who has 33 goals in 87 internationals, used the half-hour to build fitness ahead of the knockout stage, a major positive for Mauricio Pochettino.
The USA will face Bosnia-Herzegovina, who finished third in Group B, in the round of 32. The tie is scheduled for 1am UK time on Thursday July 2. As Group D winners, the co-hosts go into the knockout rounds in a strong position, and the return to fitness of Christian Pulisic gives Mauricio Pochettino's side a significant boost ahead of a match that, unlike the Turkey game, will carry real consequences.
Turkey were already mathematically eliminated before facing the USA, having lost their opening two Group D games to Australia and Paraguay without scoring, despite taking 62 shots across those matches. The 3-2 win over the USA came too late to affect their fate. It allowed Vincenzo Montella's side to leave the tournament with some pride restored and a long-awaited display of finishing, but they finished bottom of the group and out of the competition.
Sources: Final score, goalscorers and minutes, Trusty's opener, Guler and Yilmaz turning it for Turkey, McKenzie's disallowed goal, Berhalter's equaliser, Ayhan's 98th-minute winner from Uzun's cross-shot, the venue and attendance, the USA already being group winners and Turkey already eliminated after losses to Australia and Paraguay with 62 shots and no goals, Christian Pulisic's substitute return from a calf injury and his effort onto the post saved by Ugurcan Cakir, his record of 33 goals in 87 internationals, the round-of-32 tie against Bosnia-Herzegovina at 1am on Thursday July 2, and the post-match quotes from Winston McKennie, all as reported in Sky Sports' coverage of Turkey 3-2 USA at the World Cup.
