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Christian Pulisic created danger off the bench for the USMNT vs. Turkey Jared C. Tilton / FIFA / Getty Images
INGLEWOOD, Calif. — Turkey stunned the United States with a 98th-minute winner and beat the Americans, 3-2, in a World Cup group-stage finale that meant nothing but nonetheless entertained 70,000 fans here at SoFi Stadium.
Although the game technically had no stakes — the U.S. had already clinched the top spot in Group D, while Turkey was already eliminated — both teams played with passion and intensity.
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U.S. coach Maurico Pochettino made nine lineup changes, and handed maiden World Cup starts to seven players. But even those reserves jumped on Turkey. Auston Trusty scored an emphatic goal less than three minutes in.
Turkey then took control of the game, and took a 2-1 lead. But the U.S. rallied and pulled even when Sebastian Berhalter struck a few minutes into the second half with a sensational goal from long range.
2-2! SEBASTIAN BERHALTER FINDS THE EQUALIZER FOR THE @USMNT 🇺🇸
He brings the ball all the way back to the center of the pitch pic.twitter.com/QFAKNZbRMj
— FOX Sports (@FOXSports) June 26, 2026
Christian Pulisic then entered for his first minutes since a calf injury that kept him out of last week’s Australia match, and came close to finding a winner.
But ultimately, it was Turkey who broke the 2-2 tie with the literal last kick of the game from Kaan Ayhan.
Despite the loss, though, the U.S. will head into a round-of-32 match against Bosnia and Herzegovina on July 1 in Santa Clara, Calif, with confidence.
Our writers on the scene break down the key talking points:
In the 58th minute, when the ball went out of play, the crowd at SoFi Stadium went wild. Pulisic was standing by the fourth official, awaiting his return to play for the first time since June 12, when he exited the win over Paraguay at halftime with a calf injury.
Pulisic didn’t appear to be hampered by any injury or mistrust of his body at all. Within eight minutes, he established himself as a class above what the U.S. had been showing in attack for the first two-thirds of the match. Missing at least a week of training and the Australia match hadn’t dimmed the energy and enterprise he showed in the first half against Paraguay in the least. He had one fortuitous chance get tipped off the post in the 63rd minute, before having a more controlled opening with his left go just wide of the mark in the 77th as he lost his footing.
A big opportunity in the box for the US pic.twitter.com/ghretZBJxF
— FOX Sports (@FOXSports) June 26, 2026
Christian Pulisic just misses this one with his left foot 👀 pic.twitter.com/mZa05ohKD1
— FOX Sports (@FOXSports) June 26, 2026
It’s no shock to anyone that Pulisic is integral to the team’s chances of advancing deep in this tournament. Thursday night’s spot performance off the bench, in which he had three shots in just over half an hour, should allay any worries that Pulisic would be compromised moving forward. – Tom Bogert
Mauricio Pochettino’s decision to fully rotate was always going to be most glaring on the back line, where the U.S. depth has been an issue throughout this World Cup cycle. The shakiness of those options was on display in the first half Thursday.
On Turkey’s opening goal, center back Mark McKenzie tried to jump an Arda Güler pass, but Güler neatly read the defender and kept his run going forward, leaving McKenzie in the dust. Baris Alper Yilmaz took the ball off Güler’s foot as Miles Robinson chased, and Güler ran past McKenzie and into the box for an easy finish off Yilmaz’s service.
The second goal featured more mistakes.
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Weston McKennie lost an aerial duel in midfield, and the ball was played out to the left to Kenan Yildiz. Joe Scally backed off the Juventus winger, giving him space and respect, and Yildiz split a recovering McKennie and Brenden Aaronson to find Güler. The Real Madrid star then fed Yildiz, who continued a back-door run that left a ball-watching Scally behind, and Yildiz’s cross was finished neatly by Orkun Kökcü.
For a U.S. team that hadn’t been challenged much through the first two games, it was a bit worrisome to see the back line so easily gashed in those moments — and it reinforced the importance of the players who started the first two games. – Paul Tenorio
The U.S. came out flying. Before Turkey could get a foothold in the game, before the Turks had even completed a pass, Gio Reyna had a shot deflected behind for a corner kick. Reyna and Tim Weah pumped up a suddenly-rabid crowd.
A minute later, with many of the 70,000 fans standing, and with the Turks still dumbstruck, Trusty scored and sprinted straight toward the U.S. bench with fire in his eyes.
THE @USMNT SCORES IN THE 3RD MINUTE TO TAKE THE LEAD 🇺🇸
First career international goal for Auston Trusty! pic.twitter.com/U5FRpFCRYu
— FOX Sports (@FOXSports) June 26, 2026
Intensity was never a problem for the U.S. on Thursday. Despite the lack of stakes, the backups — seven starting their first World Cup game, two getting their first minutes of any kind — played with passion. They fought. McKenzie went nose-to-nose with Salih Ozcan. Berhalter, even after picking up an early yellow card, didn’t back down.
But intensity can only do so much to close talent gaps. As the game wore on, Turkey’s quality rose to the surface. All over the field, for much of the first half, Americans were sloppy — not because they lacked focus, simply because many of them lack elite technical ability.
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The second half was better. Berhalter in particular upped his game. The defensive structure solidified. But Brenden Aaronson missed a guilt-edged chance, and the U.S. didn’t quite have enough cutting-edge to carve out a third goal, and Turkey, meanwhile, played to the final whistle and got its just reward.
And that, in a nutshell, is why there are still questions about the USMNT’s ceiling at this World Cup. The preferred starting 11, of course, is more talented, but still not as talented as players like Güler — the type of player the U.S. will eventually meet in the knockout rounds. The outstanding question from this historic World Cup group stage is how the U.S. will fare when it eventually meets that level of opposition. – Henry Bushnell
After two excruciating defeats, and just one day after defending the same starting XI that failed against Australia and Paraguay in the press conference, Turkey head coach Vincenzo Montella finally embraced change. The result was a team with more pace, more balance and more of the qualities both Turkish and American fans expected to see throughout the tournament.
Defensively, the return of Roma fullback Zeki Celik and Hoffenheim center back Ozan Kabak immediately stabilized the back line. Together they handled the U.S. attack far more effectively than the Merih Demiral–Mert Muldur pairing had in Turkey’s opening two matches.
In midfield, Güler was finally handed the keys. With Hakan Çalhanoğlu on the bench, the 21-year-old Real Madrid midfielder looked more free and assertive, orchestrating Turkey’s attack before scoring his first World Cup goal to level the match. Whether the team’s deference to its veteran captain had constrained Güler in the first two games is impossible to know, but the youngster looked far more comfortable as the focal point of the attack.
Fenerbahçe winger Oguz Aydin also injected the speed Turkey had been missing all tournament. His direct running stretched the U.S. defense and helped transform possession into genuine scoring chances rather than speculative shots.
Was Çalhanoğlu the problem? That is tough to say. What is clear is that the lineup Montella finally trusted in a match that no longer mattered looked far closer to the team many believed Turkey should have fielded from the start. By that point, however, the damage had already been done, with the team’s fate decided two games into a disappointing World Cup. – Asli Pelit
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