USMNT's Group Victory Overshadowed by Turkey Loss

INGLEWOOD, Calif. — The last word from Mauricio Pochettino came sharp and short.

“I need to remind everyone we won the group, sorry guys, we won,” he snapped, pushed back his chair and walked out of the room.

Moments earlier, Turkey had stolen a 3-2 win with the final kick of the night at SoFi Stadium. The U.S. men’s national team had just tasted its first defeat of this World Cup. The mood in the press room matched the scoreline. Pochettino wanted no part of it.

From his perspective, the story was being told all wrong.

A defeat that didn’t really cost them

The USMNT had already secured top spot in Group D after two games. That gave Pochettino license to rip up his previous lineup and protect his core for the knockout rounds. He did exactly that.

Ricardo Pepi and Weston McKennie were the only holdovers from the win over Australia. Tyler Adams, Folarin Balogun, Chris Richards and Antonee Robinson — all one booking away from suspension — stayed on the bench all night. Yellow cards vanish after the group stage. Pochettino had no intention of risking any of them for a game that could not move the U.S. from first place.

The cost of that rotation showed. The new-look XI coughed up the lead, rallied, then conceded deep into stoppage time. Auston Trusty opened the scoring, Sebastian Berhalter dragged the U.S. level early in the second half, but Turkey’s Arda Guler ran the game and deserved his man-of-the-match tag. His fingerprints were on almost every dangerous Turkish attack, including the sequence that ended with the late winner.

On paper, the loss changed nothing. Six points from three games still left the U.S. on top of a “very difficult group,” as Pochettino put it. Technically, it matches the country’s best-ever group-stage haul, set in 1930 when wins were worth two points rather than three.

The questions Pochettino faced made it sound like something else entirely.

Pochettino vs. the room

“It cannot be possible that Turkey celebrates three points, Australia celebrates getting through, Paraguay celebrates getting through… for you to not say congratulations for winning the group, it’s a little bit sad,” he said, bristling at the tone in the room.

He kept circling back to the same theme: context. This was not a must-win. This was a calculated gamble.

“Explain what you mean in momentum — I don’t understand,” he challenged one reporter. “To play with the same team we played against Australia to take a risk? To receive a yellow card? To risk players who maybe have problems? I don’t understand.”

He even pointed abroad for evidence.

“Germany lost momentum too and they played with (mostly) the same team (in their loss to Ecuador on Thursday).”

For Pochettino, the night was not about aesthetics or narrative arcs. It was about managing minutes, protecting legs and walking out of SoFi with the group already in the bag. He insisted he was satisfied, even if his body language told a different story.

“I’m happy, maybe I’m not showing because your questions are a little bit weird,” he said. “But I’m happy, the players are happy because we are first. I’m confused, maybe the vibes are like we go home tonight and Turkey stays (in the World Cup), no?”

At one point, when asked what lessons the team had learned from the night, he paused and seized the chance to redirect.

“No one congratulated us for finishing first in a very difficult group,” he said. “I congratulate the players, staff and fans. Now I’ll answer your question. You always learn when you are in a World Cup.”

Pulisic’s return changes the picture

If there was one development that truly mattered between the white lines, it came just before the hour mark.

Christian Pulisic stepped onto the pitch in the 58th minute, his first action since limping off at halftime against Paraguay with a calf issue. He replaced Tim Weah on the left and instantly looked like the sharpest American attacker on the field — moving freely, driving at defenders, demanding the ball.

The plan, Pochettino admitted, had been built around him.

“The objective was not just to win, but to get Christian 30-40 minutes,” he said. “He finished well and he made an impact on the pitch.”

Pulisic did suffer one indignity: Guler slipped the ball through his legs in the buildup to Turkey’s stoppage-time winner. It stung. But for the U.S. staff, the bigger takeaway was clear — their star forward came through the test, looked confident and should be ready for the intensity of the knockout rounds.

That, more than the scoreline, will travel with them to California’s Bay Area.

Bosnia and Herzegovina await

Earlier in the day, the bracket locked into place. Bosnia and Herzegovina will stand opposite the U.S. in the round of 32 next Wednesday in Santa Clara.

The Americans will arrive there as group winners, with their key players rested and their talisman back on the field. They will also carry the memory of a night when a rotated side let a result slip, when Guler picked them apart, and when their head coach went on the offensive off the pitch.

“We’re a much better team now than we were before,” Pochettino said. “That will be put to the test next game.”

The group is won. The questions he bristled at will only grow louder if the next test goes wrong.