​  IRVINE, Calif. – This is not a normal set of circumstances for the United States men’s national team in a FIFA World Cup group stage finale.For just the third time in its history, the USMNT has already won its group. Heck, it’s just the first time the U.S. has won consecutive games in a World Cup group stage since 1930–there were only two group stage games then–and only the third time the men’s team has won two games in a single World Cup.However, when the Americans take the pitch to close out Group D on Thursday at SoFi Stadium, they’ll play a rare “dead rubber” match, where the result doesn’t mean anything to the fate of the USMNT, already eliminated Türkiye or anyone else anywhere in the bracket.Thanks to FIFA switching the first tiebreaker in the group standings for this tournament away from goal differential to head-to-head results, neither Australia or Paraguay can pass the United States, which beat both teams, and Türkiye cannot catch the Socceroos or La Albirroja for third place, since the Turks lost to both.The only thing left to play for is personal pride.For Türkiye, they’ll hope to salvage some sort of moral victory from an overwhelmingly disappointing tournament, where the Turks have taken more shots (62) without scoring a goal than any team in World Cup history.For the United States, there is more history to be had, as the USMNT has never won three games in a World Cup, let alone sweep a three-game World Cup group stage.“Going into this World Cup, we’ve spoken about obviously wanting to win,” USMNT defender Chris Richards said, “but we’ve also spoken about making history, and we look at every game and every training as an opportunity to continue to make history.”But at what cost?There’s simply no need to push for the United States, and with a Round of 32 date already secured–July 1 at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara–there are other things to manage.Four U.S. players are currently carrying yellow cards in the group stage–Richards, Antonee “Jedi” Robinson, Tyler Adams and Folarin Balogun. If any one of those four were to pick-up another yellow card on Thursday, they would be suspended from the first knockout game. Their card counts are reset after the group stage.USMNT coach Mauricio Pochettino confirmed in his pre-match press conference on Wednesday that those four players will not take the field against Türkiye.“It’s unnecessary to take a risk and to take another yellow card and not be available for the next stage,” Pochettino said. “An easy answer not to play with them from the beginning.”Then there is the recently injured in Christian Pulisic–who deemed himself ready to go after being held out of full training and the win against Australia last week due to a calf injury.There’s the idea of letting Pulisic heal even further and avoiding risk in a meaning      ​Read More