Mauricio Pochettino has made the unconventional conventional since taking over as coach of the national team 18 months ago. He’s experimented with formations and tactics, shaken up his roster and motivated players by demanding to know why they can’t make a deep run into this World Cup.
On Thursday he may have pushed that contempt for convention a little too far, with Kaan Ayhan goal’s deep in stoppage time giving Turkey a 3-2 win and spoiling the Americans’ unbeaten start.
With the U.S. having already locked down a spot in the knockout stages of the tournament, Pochettino emptied his bench, making nine changes to his lineup for the group-stage finale with Turkey and giving 21 players a start in the first round. And this time the roll of the dice didn’t work, with Turkey getting its only win of the tournament on its last touch of the World Cup.
Whether that result robs Pochettino’s team of the momentum it built in opening the tournament with dominant victories over Paraguay and Australia won’t be known until Wednesday, when the unbeaten U.S. (2-1-0) faces Bosnia and Herzegovina, the third-place team from Group B, in its first elimination game in Santa Clara.
Pochettino’s lineup changes were the most any American coach has made in consecutive World Cup games. And when Alejandro Zendejas came in the 76th minute, he became the 23rd U.S. player to appear in the tournament, also a record.
Early on Pochettino once again looked like a genius at the start, with surprise starter Auston Trusty giving the U.S. a 1-0 lead less than three minutes into the game. The play started with Sebastian Berhalter, also making his first World Cup start, sending a long right-footed corner across the front of the goal to Trusty, who settled it with his first touch, then drilled a left-footed shot from the far edge of the six-yard box between Turkish keeper Ugurcan Cakir and the near post.
It was the second-fastest U.S. goal in World Cup history. But the lead was short-lived, with Turkey evening things in the 10th minute when Real Madrid midfielder Arda Guler slipped the mark of U.S. center back Mark McKenzie and ran onto a pass from Kenan Yildiz at the penalty spot before lifting a left-footed shot over Matt Turner.
The shot was the first Turner had faced in the tournament and it marked the first time in this World Cup that the U.S. had given up a lead.
Turner did no better on the second shot he faced, with Orkun Kokcu taking a centering pass from Eren Elmali at the edge of the six-yard box and redirecting it into the back of the net, handing the U.S. its first deficit of the tournament in the 31st minute.
This time it was Miles Robinson who was victimized, sticking out his right leg, but whiffing on an attempt to keep Elmali’s pass from slipping through.
The U.S. pulled that goal back on another set piece four minutes into the second half when a loose ball ricocheted out to the top of the area for the ever-present Berhalter who, given plenty of space, skipped a right-footed shot just inside the near post to even the score.
Ten minutes later Pochettino sent on Christian Pulisic, who had been nursing a left calf injury, for the first time since the opening half of the first game and he immediately made his presence felt, creating three dangerous chances up the left wing.
The fact that the U.S. failed to convert any of them proved costly when Ayhan, surrounded by three U.S. defenders. scored on a scramble in front of the net.
Turkey, playing in a World Cup for the first time since 2002, lost its first two games and had been blocked from advancing to the knockout stages before Thursday’s game began. And it took out its frustration on the U.S., playing a chippy game from the start.
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