Pochettino's Bold Experiment Ends in Defeat Against Turkey

Mauricio Pochettino has spent 18 months tearing up the manual with the U.S. national team. On Thursday night, the gamble finally bit back.

With qualification already sealed and first place in the group within reach, he rolled the dice harder than any American coach has at a World Cup, making nine changes and effectively turning the group-stage finale against Turkey into a live-fire exercise for his bench.

For 90 minutes, it looked like the experiment would end with a shrug. Then Kaan Ayhan arrived, deep into stoppage time, to flip the script and hand Turkey a 3-2 win with the final meaningful touch of its World Cup.

Rotation, records and a late sting

Pochettino didn’t just rotate. He detonated his lineup.

Nine new starters. A World Cup record for an American coach in back-to-back games. By the 76th minute, when Alejandro Zendejas stepped onto the pitch, he became the 23rd U.S. player to appear in this tournament — another record, and a clear statement about how Pochettino sees his squad: not a starting XI, but a 23-man tool kit.

For a while, it looked inspired again.

Barely three minutes had ticked by when Auston Trusty, one of those surprise inclusions, smashed the U.S. into the lead. The move came straight off the training ground. Sebastian Berhalter, making his first World Cup start, whipped a long, teasing corner across the face of goal. Trusty killed it with his first touch, then hammered a left-footed shot from the far edge of the six-yard box between Ugurcan Cakir and the near post.

It was the second-fastest goal in U.S. World Cup history. Pochettino’s rotation was humming. His ideas, once more, looked a step ahead.

The problem? Turkey, already eliminated, wasn’t in the mood to play the supporting role.

Turkey bites back

Eight minutes after Trusty’s opener, the Americans conceded their first shot on target of the entire tournament. It went in.

Arda Guler, the Real Madrid midfielder with velvet feet and sharp instincts, ghosted away from center back Mark McKenzie, timing his run perfectly to meet Kenan Yildiz’s pass near the penalty spot. One touch to steady, then a left-footed lift over Matt Turner, who had been a spectator for two and a half games. Suddenly the U.S. had surrendered its first lead of this World Cup.

Turner’s second test didn’t go any better. In the 31st minute, Eren Elmali drove a low ball across the box, Orkun Kokcu met it near the six-yard line and redirected it into the net. Just like that, the U.S. trailed for the first time in the tournament.

Turkey, playing in its first World Cup since 2002 and already out, played with the edge of a team with nothing left to lose and a point to prove. The challenges were spiky, the duels relentless. If this was going to be a glorified scrimmage for Pochettino’s rotated side, Turkey refused the script.

Berhalter’s moment

The U.S. response after the break was sharp and immediate.

Four minutes into the second half, another dead ball bailed them out. A loose clearance skidded toward the top of the box, where Berhalter hovered in the right pocket of space. The ball popped out, he stayed composed, and with a smooth, skipping right-footed strike, he tucked it just inside the near post.

“The ball just popped out and I knew if I just stayed calm and just made a swing motion, that I had a chance,” Berhalter said. He had already supplied the corner for Trusty’s opener; now he had a goal of his own in his first World Cup start.

It wasn’t just a nice story. It was a performance that announced him as a real option for the knockout rounds.

Pulisic returns, chances go begging

At 2-2, Pochettino went to his ace.

On came Christian Pulisic around the hour mark, his left calf finally deemed ready after he’d been limited since the opening half of the first game. His impact was immediate. Three times he tore up the left wing, three times he carved open Turkey’s defense, three times the final touch or finish failed to match the buildup.

Those misses lingered.

Because as the clock bled toward full time, with the U.S. seemingly content to manage out a draw and protect legs, Turkey found one last surge. A scramble in front of Turner’s goal, Ayhan surrounded by three American defenders, bodies flying everywhere — and then the ball was in the net.

3-2. Turkey’s first and only win of the tournament. The U.S.’s unbeaten run gone in an instant.

“It’s all positive”

The defeat raises an obvious question: has the momentum from those dominant wins over Paraguay and Australia been dented?

Pochettino dismissed the idea.

“The objective was to finish first and we are first,” he said. “Now it is the next stage and it is going to be a final. And we are ready. We are much better than before that game because we had players now with 90 minutes in their legs and performing and really to help if we need from the beginning or after from the bench.

“It’s all positive. And I am so positive and I am happy.”

His players sounded the same note. For them, the broader picture mattered more than the late punch to the gut.

Berhalter, with a goal and an assist, leaned into the bigger moment: a home World Cup, debuts made, roles earned.

“We know everyone’s ready to step up at any moment,” he said. “I think you saw that today. We let some moments get away from us, but I thought the performances overall were good.

“It’s every little kid’s dream across the United States of America to play in a home World Cup, and just in a World Cup in general. People made their debuts today, so congratulations everyone. This is what everybody looks forward to.”

Brenden Aaronson, who came off the bench, refused to let the late goal sour the campaign so far.

“You can always take these things as fuel, having that moment in the last one where they score,” he said. “It’s tough. We wanted to walk away with no losses in the group stage. But it was still a fantastic group stage.

“Not worried whatsoever. We’re going to move on to the next one and be ready to go for Bosnia.”

Bosnia next — with no hiding place

The safety net is gone now.

The U.S. finished the group at 2-1-0 and will face Bosnia and Herzegovina, the third-place team from Group B, in the round of 32 in Santa Clara on Wednesday. There will be no nine-man rotations there, no room for experiments in the name of squad harmony.

Pochettino has made the unconventional feel normal with this team. He has spread minutes, built depth, and challenged his players to believe a deep World Cup run is not just a slogan.

Now comes the test that matters: does that boldness turn into steel in the knockouts, or did Ayhan’s late strike quietly expose a fault line that Bosnia will be eager to attack?