Turkey spoil the USA’s perfect group stage with a stoppage-time winner

The United States had already won Group D and had nothing left to play for on the night. Turkey were out, beaten in their first two games, with only pride on the table. None of that stopped the visitors producing the drama of the group, as Kaan Ayhan bundled in a winner deep into stoppage time to hand the hosts a 3-2 defeat at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles.

It was the United States’ first loss of their home World Cup, and it came in the one match where the result changed nothing. They still top the group and still march into the round of 32. But a perfect start has gone, and the manner of it, conceding in the eighth minute of added time to a team already eliminated, will not sit well with Mauricio Pochettino’s side.

A game that swung both ways

The hosts could hardly have started better. Auston Trusty drilled them in front inside the opening three minutes, turning home a Sebastian Berhalter corner from close range. Turkey had other ideas. Arda Guler levelled in the 10th minute, slipping in behind the United States defence, and his fingerprints were on the second too as Baris Yilmaz put the visitors ahead just past the half-hour.

Berhalter, who had supplied the corner for the opener, dragged the United States back on level terms four minutes after the break, and from there it had the feel of a draw nobody would complain about. Then came the sting. With the board showing eight added minutes, Ayhan reacted quickest in the box to poke home and send the Turkish bench spilling onto the touchline.

Guler runs the show

For all that the scoreline flattered nobody, the standout was Arda Guler. The young Turkey playmaker had a hand in two of the three goals and walked off with the player-of-the-match award, a reminder of the talent Turkey are building around even as their tournament ends at the group stage.

There was a worry for the United States too. Christian Pulisic, managing a calf problem, was held back and only introduced from the bench just before the hour. Pochettino will have wanted his captain fresh rather than risked in a game that did not need him, and getting him through to the knockouts without aggravating the injury matters more than anything that happened on the scoreboard.

What it means for the knockouts

The bare facts are kind to the United States. Top of Group D, into the round of 32, and a meeting with Bosnia and Herzegovina to come on July 1 at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara. The defeat does nothing to their seeding or their path. Pochettino had rung the changes, making nine and resting four players who were a booking away from a knockout suspension, so the result tells him little about his first-choice side. What it does is puncture the mood a little, and give him a clear talking point about game management and seeing out matches before the real tournament begins.

For Turkey, it is a night to enjoy and little more. They go home, but they go home having beaten the hosts in their own backyard, with a stoppage-time winner nobody in red and white will forget in a hurry.

Stay across all the World Cup drama