Despite making nine changes to his lineup, U.S. coach Mauricio Pochettino left Christian Pulisic on the bench for the hosts’ World Cup Group D finale against Turkey on Thursday in Inglewood, Calif.
Pulisic starred early in the United States’ opening match against Paraguay before exiting at halftime due to a calf injury. He sat out the second match vs. Australia, but this week he resumed full training with the team and was declared fully fit ahead of the Turkey contest.
The result between the U.S. (2-0-0, 6 points) and Turkey (0-2-0, 0 points) will have no bearing on the tournament. The U.S. already have clinched the top spot in Group D and will face Bosnia and Herzegovina in the round of 32 in Santa Clara, Calif., on Wednesday. Turkey was eliminated from contention because of its losses to Australia and Paraguay.
Pochettino erred on the side of caution regarding his four players who each have a yellow card in the tournament — Chris Richards, Antonee Robinson, Tyler Adams and Folarin Balogun — leaving them all on the bench vs. Turkey. A second yellow card in the group stage results in a one-game suspension, while single yellow cards are wiped out after the third game.
The only two players who started for the U.S. against Australia and will be back for the kickoff vs. Turkey are Richardo Pepi, who was filling in for Pulisic, and Weston McKennie.
Matt Turner, the U.S. goalkeeper throughout the 2022 World Cup, got the nod on Thursday over Matt Freese.
One of Pochettino’s changes on the back line paid immediate dividends, as center back Auston Trusty — making his first career World Cup start in his 10th cap — scored off a corner kick in the third minute to give the U.S. a 1-0 lead. Mark McKenzie, Miles Robinson and Joe Scally made up the rest of the back line. McKennie and Sebastian Berhalter anchored the midfield behind Timothy Weah, Giovanni Reyna and Brenden Aaronson, with Pepi up top.
Turkey, who pulled even at 1-1 on Arda Guler’s goal in the 10th minute, made seven changes to their starting lineup from the previous match.
–Field Level Media
