4 Takeaways From USA’s Last-Second World Cup Loss To Türkiye

LOS ANGELES STADIUM — So much for a perfect group stage. After winning its first two games at the 2026 FIFA World Cup, the U.S. men’s national team finished the first round with a 3-2 defeat to already eliminated Türkiye on Thursday on literally the last kick of the ball. With the USA having already clinched Group B with a game to spare, coach Mauricio Pochettino made nine changes to the lineup that beat Australia last week in Seattle. But despite taking the lead less than three minutes in thanks to defender Auston Trusty’s first international goal, the Americans were outplayed by the visitors for the rest of the first half. Pochettino’s team went into halftime trailing, with Orkun Kökçü and 21-year-old Real Madrid playmaker Arda Güler finishing well-worked plays that left the U.S. defenders chasing shadows. But rather than make substitutions at halftime — even at the risk of a second Sebastian Berhalter yellow card — Pochettino stuck with his plan. And it almost paid off. Berhalter, who set up the opening Stars and Stripes goal from a corner kick that Auston Trusty banged home, scored a second-half equalizer as part of a greatly improved last 45 minutes before Kaan Ayhan knocked home the winner in the final seconds of stoppage time. That means the World Cup co-hosts head into next Wednesday’s must-win round of 32 match against Bosnia and Herzegovina in the San Francisco Bay Area Stadium off their first loss of the tournament. Here are four takeaways from the USA’s defeat: 1. This Time, The U.S. Can’t Ride An Early Lead Even before Trusty coolly settled Sebastian Berhalter’s corner kick and blasted it past Uğurcan Çakır, the home side had chances to score. So when the ball hit the back of the net, it felt like the U.S. could roll the way they had in those multi-goal victories against Australia and Paraguay. That’s not how it played out. For all the talk about how the U.S. reserves would treat this game as their World Cup final, the Turks were the ones to impose themselves, winning tackles and putting the Americans — who, to be fair, probably were never going to look as cohesive as the starters given that they’d never played together as a starting 11 (or even close to one) before. Whatever Pochettino said to his players at halftime worked. The World Cup co-hosts came out flying. Again, they had opportunities to draw level even before doing so. And it still only took four minutes of the second stanza for Berhalter to get on the end of a failed clearance at the top of the Turkish box, half-volleying a blistering strike past Çakır. It was moments away from earning the Stars and Stripes a share of the spoils. 2. American Reserves Learn A Valuable Lesson With no disrespect intended to the bottom of Pochettino’s roster, there was an obvious drop-off in quality with almost all the usual suspects on the bench ahead of the knockout stage. That’s the case with most teams, to be sure. (Weston McKennie and Ricardo Pepi were the lone holdovers from last game.) And again, the fact that most of these guys had never started or even played in a World Cup before in their careers was surely a culture shock in the first half — especially with the Turks hell-bent on showing that they are far better than the results of their first two games, both losses in which they failed to score, would indicate. The good news for the Americans is that they responded. And while it wasn’t enough to prevent a loss and head into the knockout stage undefeated, the experience they gained in losing could still pay off handsomely if and when a few of the understudies are called upon against the Bosnians — or beyond. 3. Pulisic Making His Return Bodes Well The best news of the night from a USA perspective has to be the sight of Pulisic, Pochettino’s most irreplaceable attacker, sprinting onto the field just before the hour mark. Pulisic had played just the first half of the first game for the U.S. before being felled by a sore calf that also kept him out of the 2-0 victory over the Socceroos last week in Seattle. As encouraging as that game was in showing that the co-hosts can win a World Cup game even without their marquee star, they did miss Pulisic’s quality both in that match and for the first 57 minutes on Thursday. No, he didn’t get on the scoresheet (although he came close).  But that doesn’t matter. What does is that he’s healthy again and, barring something unforeseen, will start the first knockout match. If the Stars and Stripes are to make the deep run they believe they’re capable of, make no mistake: Pulisic will be one of the catalysts —  if not the driving force — that takes them there. 4. It’s About To Get Real, With Bosnia And Herzegovina Next With the group stage now over, the attention can finally now move to the game U.S. fans — if not players — have been looking ahead to ever since Paraguay upset this same Turkish squad last Friday to ensure that the Stars and Stripes would play for a spot in the round of 16 in the Bay Area on July 1. It’s probably not the matchup the Americans wanted. It’s definitely not the easiest one they could’ve gotten, nor the ideal reward for finishing in first place. The Bosnians showed just how dangerous they can be in March, when they eliminated four-time World Cup champions Italy in Europe’s qualifying playoffs. They were probably unlucky not to beat Canada in front of a hostile, partisan crowd in Toronto in their opening match at the main event. Still, man-for-man, the U.S. is the better team. With Pulisic back, the rest of Pochettino’s first-choice players rested and another colossal home field advantage expected at San Francisco Bay Area Stadium, they are and should be the favorites.