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The United States men's national soccer team suffered their first defeat of the 2026 FIFA World Cup on Thursday night, falling 3-2 to Turkey in a dramatic and thoroughly entertaining match at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California. Turkey's Kaan Ayhan scored the winning goal in the 98th minute of stoppage time — one of the very last kicks of the game — to hand a heavily rotated USMNT side their only loss of the group stage. Despite the defeat, the United States had already qualified for the Round of 32 as Group D winners before a ball was kicked on Thursday, meaning the result carries no impact on their tournament progression.
A Match With Nothing to Lose — and Everything to Prove
With qualification already secured through victories over Paraguay and Australia, head coach Mauricio Pochettino used Thursday's match as an opportunity to give fringe players valuable World Cup experience ahead of the knockout rounds. The Argentine made ten changes to his starting lineup compared to the Australia victory, keeping only Weston McKennie from the regular first team. Key starters including Matt Turner, Tim Ream, Tyler Adams and Antonee Robinson all sat out to protect them from picking up yellow cards that would have triggered automatic suspensions in the Round of 32.
Christian Pulisic — the team's biggest star and talisman — was left on the bench until the 58th minute as he continued his recovery from a calf injury that forced him to sit out the Australia match. When Pulisic entered the field to replace a substitute at SoFi Stadium, the predominantly pro-American crowd rose to give him a standing ovation that reverberated around the stadium, underscoring just how much the American public has invested in this home World Cup.
How the Goals Went In
The United States made a dream start when defender Auston Trusty headed home from a corner kick after just three minutes — his first ever international goal and the third consecutive World Cup match in which the USMNT had scored first. The early goal set the tone for what promised to be a controlled and comfortable American performance.
Turkey hit back quickly however, with Arda Güler — the Real Madrid forward who had been quiet in Turkey's two previous group stage games — levelling the score in the 10th minute with a well-worked goal. Güler then turned provider on the half-hour mark, helping create the second goal for Barış Alper Yılmaz that gave Turkey a 2-1 lead heading into half-time and marked the first time the USMNT had trailed at any point during the entire group stage.
The United States responded strongly after the interval. Sebastian Berhalter — son of former USMNT coach Gregg Berhalter and one of the players seizing his opportunity in the rotated lineup — fired a thunderous long-range effort into the net in the 49th minute to level the score at 2-2. From that point, the match appeared to be heading towards a share of the spoils that would have felt like an excellent result for a much-changed American side.
Then came the heartbreak. Deep into stoppage time, with the clock showing the 98th minute, Turkey worked the ball to Kaan Ayhan on the edge of the area. The 31-year-old defender redirected a pass from Efecan Uzun across the face of goal and into the net, sending the Turkish players and bench into wild celebration and leaving American fans stunned. The fact that Trusty — who had scored the opening goal — had gone off injured moments earlier and left the USMNT out of substitutes added a cruel twist to the late defeat.
Pochettino Defends His Decisions
Coach Mauricio Pochettino was clearly frustrated in his post-match press conference by suggestions that the defeat revealed anything meaningful about the United States' chances in the knockout rounds. The Argentine was pointed in his defence of the rotation policy, arguing that giving fringe players competitive minutes ahead of the July 1 Round of 32 match against Bosnia and Herzegovina was the correct decision regardless of the result.
"It's tough. We wanted to walk away with no loss in the group stage, but we got to take it — it was still a fantastic group stage," said forward Brenden Aaronson, who was among those to miss a clear chance late in the match that would have secured the draw. The mood in the American camp, however, remained broadly positive. The group stage had delivered two convincing wins, Pulisic's return to fitness and competitive time for players who had previously been on the fringes of the squad.
What This Means for USA's World Cup Hopes
The defeat to Turkey raises one important question heading into the knockout stage — does the depth of the USMNT squad hold up when the margin for error disappears? The Round of 32 against Bosnia and Herzegovina on July 1 at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara will be a very different proposition to the group stage matches. Pochettino will almost certainly restore his first-choice starting eleven, with Turner, Adams, Robinson and the rest of the first-team regulars returning to the lineup.
Pulisic's fitness will be the most closely watched factor of all. He looked sharp in his 32 minutes on the field against Turkey and there were no signs of any reaction to the calf issue that had sidelined him against Australia. If Pulisic is fully fit and firing for the Bosnia match, the United States remain one of the more dangerous sides remaining in the tournament — a team playing at home, with a passionate crowd behind them and genuine quality in the final third when their best players are available.
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