The United States only wanted to get through its final World Cup group stage match Thursday night without an injury or a red card, while Turkey was playing for a face-saving victory. Both teams got what they wanted most out of their meeting before the Americans head on to the knockout stage—and coach Mauricio Pochettino was annoyed by any suggestion that the Americans' last-gasp, 3-2 defeat said anything negative about the state of his team, the AP reports. Kaan Ayhan scored on the final kick of the match to send Turkey past the US in the eighth minute of stoppage time for its only win of the World Cup.
The result was meaningless to the Americans, who will meet Bosnia-Herzegovina in the Round of 32 on Wednesday. Pochettino sent out nine new starters, including eight who were starting a World Cup match for the first time. The US tied it early in the second half on a goal by Sebastian Berhalter, and the Americans got within a few seconds of an unbeaten run through the group stage. But in his postgame news conference, Pochettino expressed his annoyance with what he perceived as disappointment in the result.
- "For you (to) not say congratulations that we won the group, that is a little bit sad," Pochettino told reporters. What we need to remember is we won first place in this group," Pochettino added while speaking in Spanish and English. "We ended up being No. 1, and we managed all the pressure and the expectations quite well. We had other priorities. We wanted to win. We did want the victory, but there are other things we needed to balance out, and that's how I made the decisions," he said. "Making history is winning the World Cup, not just winning the group. It's a little bit petty, if you will. You're thinking just a little bit too small."
- Auston Trusty scored in the third minute for the Americans, who beat Paraguay and Australia by a combined 6-1 to book their place in the knockouts. Pochettino fielded nearly an entirely new lineup for this low-stakes game, notably resting all four key players who picked up yellow cards earlier in the tournament.
- Christian Pulisic entered in the 58th minute, however. The AC Milan midfielder hadn't played since the first half of the Americans' opener due to a calf injury, and he was involved in a couple of early scoring chances before getting beaten on the wing on Turkey's winning goal.
- Arda Güler and Orkun Kökçü scored in the first half of a resilient performance by Turkey, which had already been eliminated after losing its first two matches despite largely dominating both statistically. Turkey improbably won in the eighth minute of stoppage time when Can Uzun got the ball in space on the back post and pushed it past sprawling goalkeeper Matt Turner to Ayhan, who slid to knock it home. "I'm super-happy with how my players played tonight," Turkey coach Vincenzo Montella said through an interpreter. "They showcased all of their skills, all of their abilities, all of their character."
- Trusty's goal was the Americans' seventh of the tournament, tying their scoring record for any World Cup before knockout play even begins.
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