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The U.S. Men’s National Team’s quest to conclude the group stage of the 2026 FIFA World Cup with three wins in as many games came to an underwhelming conclusion on Thursday against Türkiye.
Having opted not to take any chances ahead of the Round of 32, with the Group D crown and a spot in the first knockout round already secured, head coach Mauricio Pochettino made nine changes to his starting lineup, with only Weston McKennie and Ricardo Pepi sticking around.

The USMNT headed into Thursday night’s game at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California, with 25 players available, as midfielder Cristian Roldan was ultimately ruled out with a quad injury.

Pulisic looked sharp upon his return -Credit:Patrick T. FALLON / AFP via Getty Images
One returnee, however, was Christian Pulisic, who was subbed off at the break in their tournament-opening 4-1 win against Paraguay before missing their 2-0 victory against Australia.
The game got off to an ideal start for the USMNT, with defender Auston Trusty scoring his first international goal in just the third minute amidst a never-ending wave of American attacks. However, Türkiye were quick to fire back, with Arda Güler scoring his nation’s first goal of the tournament around seven minutes later.

Barış Alper Yılmaz gave Türkiye the lead in the 31st minute, marking the first time this tournament that the USMNT has fallen behind.
Shortly after the break, USMNT midfielder Sebastien Berhalter thundered in a low shot to level the game, with Pulisic having sufficiently recovered from a calf injury to come on in the 58th minute for Tim Weah as they sought to push for a winner.
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An often end-to-end affair saw defender Auston Trusty go down with an ankle injury deep into Turkish territory late in the game, and with the USMNT out of substitutions, they briefly had to carry on with 10 men before he was able to make his way back onto the field.

Ultimately, Türkiye wound up saving face, with Kaan Ayhan scoring deep into stoppage time to seal their first points of the tournament before heading home, whilst ending the USMNT’s brief but impressive win streak.
On a more positive note, speaking after the game, Pulisic told FOX Sports that he “felt healthy,” adding, “It was really nice to be back with the team, and, yeah, get some minutes. I felt good. I felt good with the ball. It’s a tough way to end for us for sure, but at the end of the day, we win the group, and we just have to look forward to next week.”
Looking ahead to their Round of 32 game against Bosnia and Herzegovina, Pulisic said fans could expect to see a team that will be prepared “to give everything that we got, we’re gonna lay it all out there.
“Whether we won or lost doesn’t change. We have to go into the next game with the same mentality. We have to win that game, knockout round. And yeah, it’s time to step up when it matters.”

Trusty scored his first-ever goal for the USMNT on Thursday -Credit:Robin Alam/ISI Photos/ISI Photos via Getty Images
While Pulisic seems to have gotten through the game unscathed, the same could not be said of Trusty, who said, “I rolled my ankle pretty bad.” Despite this, he was adamant that he will “be alright,” saying, “I don’t know, I’ve hurt a little something, but I’ll be fine. No worries.”

Regarding the defeat, Trusty added that “it’s one of those, put this behind us, learn from it. Obviously, we had a lot of chances. Again, we’ve got to keep the ball out of the net. It’s as simple as that. Just react to it and move on.”
The USMNT will return to action on July 1 at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California, when they look to win their first World Cup knockout round game since 2002.
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