USMNT Stock Up, Stock Down: Rotated U.S. ends the group stage on a loss

By Billy McGee - @iambillymcgee

Photo courtesy of Cisco's Art/TopBin90

The USMNT dropped their first points of the tournament in a 3-2 loss to Türkiye after already securing top spot in the group. The U.S. goals were scored by Auston Trusty and Sebastian Berhalter, holding the game at a draw until a 98th-minute winner. Christian Pulisic returned following the injury he suffered in the first game, coming on as a second-half substitute.

Here’s our stock up, stock down for the USMNT’s last group stage game.

Stock Up

Sebastian Berhalter - Berhalter was the best player on the pitch for the USMNT against Türkiye, covering the entire field, recording a goal and assist, and leading the game in touches (89) and chances created (5). He could have been better defensively, but not all blame can be assigned to him, as he was being forced to play more in a defensive role with Gio Reyna and Weston McKennie as his other partners in the midfield, leaving no true defensive midfielder on the field. Overall, he showed he can be an impact player in games where someone needs to step up.

First Choice Forwards and Defenders - With a heavily rotated squad performing poorly in some key areas, the likes of Folarin Balogun, Tim Ream, Chris Richards, and Alex Freeman saw no real threat from anyone on the current roster to take minutes away from them. Ricardo Pepi started up top and played the entire game for the USMNT, creating just one chance and taking two shots that were both off target. The attack was much less dangerous without Balogun leading the line. On the back line, everyone except Auston Trusty played poorly, especially with distribution. Ream’s specialty is his distribution of long balls from the back. The center back pairing of Mark McKenzie and Miles Robinson combined to go 1/7 on accurate long balls. Ream, Richards, and Freeman will continue to be penciled in on the back line for important games.

Stock Down

Timothy Weah - Weah started on the left wing for the U.S. in the match, playing 58 minutes before being subbed off for Christian Pulisic. In his 58 minutes, he had 30 touches, only two of which were in the box, one successful dribble, zero shots or chances created, was offside twice, dispossessed five times, and went 1/9 in duels. There are very few, if any, positives to take away from his performance against Türkiye.

Matt Turner - Despite Matt Freese having not been tested much in the first two games of the tournament and him lacking the experience against top-level competition, Pochettino opted to play Matt Turner in goal for the final group stage match. Turner faced just three shots on target, allowing all of them to score, tallying a -0.70 goals prevented. Turner did little else other than claim crosses and act as a sweeper in the match.

Substitutes - As poorly as some of the starters in the game performed, the game was tied at 2-2 in the 49th minute before a single substitution was made. The U.S. made all five subs, bringing on Pulisic, Freeman, Sergino Dest, Alejandro Zendejas, and Malik Tillman. Pulisic was coming off the injury that caused him to miss the game against Australia, but he showed flashes of the player we know him to be, but ultimately couldn’t be the difference maker in the game. The four other subs had limited impact on the game before they ultimately gave up the third goal to Türkiye in the 98th minute, losing 3-2. The players that should’ve been difference makers in pulling out a win couldn’t come through for the U.S.