USMNT's Mauricio Pochettino Defends Group Stage Success After Turkey Loss
INGLEWOOD, Calif. — Mauricio Pochettino did not walk out of SoFi Stadium on Thursday night like a man licking his wounds.
He walked out swinging.
The U.S. men’s national team had just lost 3-2 to Turkey, conceding the winner with the last kick of the game in the eighth minute of stoppage time. It was their first defeat of this World Cup. It did not change a thing in the standings: the USMNT had already clinched first place in Group D after two matches.
That context did little to soften the questions in the press room. Pochettino bristled.
“It cannot be possible that Turkey celebrates three points, Australia celebrates getting through, Paraguay celebrates getting through… for you to not say congratulations for winning the group, it’s a little bit sad,” he snapped.
“I need to remind everyone we won the group, sorry guys, we won,” he added, then stood up and left, ending the press conference with the same sharp edge that had crept into his answers throughout.
A dead-rubber sting, and a manager on the front foot
Turkey’s late winner stung. Any goal that arrives with the final kick does. But Pochettino’s message never wavered: this was a rotated side in a game that, for his team’s tournament path, did not matter.
He said it once. Then again. Then again.
“I’m happy, maybe I’m not showing because your questions are a little bit weird,” he told reporters minutes before his abrupt exit. “But I’m happy, the players are happy because we are first. I’m confused, maybe the vibes are like we go home tonight and Turkey stays (in the World Cup), no?”
His lineup backed up the logic. He changed almost everything from the win over Australia. Only Ricardo Pepi and Weston McKennie kept their starting spots. Christian Pulisic, recovering from the calf issue that forced him off at halftime against Paraguay, began on the bench. The four players walking the disciplinary tightrope — Tyler Adams, Folarin Balogun, Chris Richards and Antonee Robinson — never touched the pitch, protected with the knockout rounds in mind and with yellow cards wiped after the group stage.
The performance, naturally, looked disjointed at times. That was the trade-off. And it fed the line of questioning Pochettino clearly loathed: had the U.S. lost momentum?
“Explain what you mean in momentum — I don’t understand,” he shot back. “To play with the same team we played against Australia to take a risk? To receive a yellow card (suspension)? To risk players who maybe have problems? I don’t understand. Germany lost momentum too and they played with (mostly) the same team (in their loss to Ecuador on Thursday).”
Trusty, Berhalter and a Turkish star
On the field, the night still had its moments.
Auston Trusty opened the scoring, giving the heavily rotated side an early foothold. Turkey hit back and then took control of the game’s rhythm, driven by a man-of-the-match display from Arda Guler. The young playmaker not only scored but orchestrated Turkey’s best attacking sequences, dictating tempo and angles with a composure that belied his age.
Sebastian Berhalter dragged the U.S. level early in the second half, a reward for a squad player grasping his chance on the World Cup stage. The game swung, stretched, and opened up. It felt like the kind of chaotic group finale that usually comes with everything on the line.
For the U.S., it didn’t. For Turkey, it did. The difference showed in those final, frantic minutes, when Guler again influenced the decisive move and Turkey snatched the win at the death.
Pulisic returns, and reassures
The most important sight for U.S. fans came just before the hour mark.
In the 58th minute, Pulisic stripped off his bib and stepped into the game, replacing Tim Weah on the left. The calf that had forced him out against Paraguay no longer seemed to trouble him. He moved freely, drove at defenders, and immediately became the most dangerous American on the pitch.
“The objective was not just to win, but to get Christian 30-40 minutes,” Pochettino said. “He finished well and he made an impact on the pitch.”
There was one blemish: Pulisic was nutmegged by Guler in the buildup to Turkey’s winner. On another night, in another context, that moment might linger. Here, the bigger takeaway was that the U.S.’s star attacker came through his return unscathed and sharp ahead of the round of 32.
Best-ever group haul, little appetite for perspective
Strip away the emotion of a stoppage-time defeat, and the numbers tell a story Pochettino felt was being ignored.
With six points, this U.S. side matched the nation’s best-ever group-stage return at a World Cup. The only comparable campaign is 1930, when wins were worth two points instead of three. Different era, different format, same total at the top of the group.
Pochettino wanted that recognized.
“No one congratulated us for finishing first in a very difficult group,” he said. “I congratulate the players, staff and fans. Now I’ll answer your question. You always learn when you are in a World Cup.”
The lesson he seemed most keen to underline was his own: that rotation, risk management and long-term thinking trumped the optics of a perfect group record.
Bosnia and Herzegovina next — and a test of his conviction
The path is clear now. Earlier on Thursday, the U.S. learned its round-of-32 opponent: Bosnia and Herzegovina, in Santa Clara next Wednesday.
By then, Adams, Balogun, Richards and Robinson will be available without suspension concerns. Pulisic should be closer to full sharpness. The core that beat Paraguay and Australia will return, bolstered by a bench that now has real tournament minutes in its legs.
“We’re a much better team now than we were before,” Pochettino said. “That will be put to the test next game.”
He has staked his argument, and his mood, on that belief. The group is won. The rotation is done. The real judgment begins against Bosnia and Herzegovina.
