US sends out new lineup vs. Turkey with Round of 32 matchup set in World Cup
The American team has already won its group and clinched a matchup with Bosnia-Herzegovina in the Round of 32 of the World Cup next week.
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INGLEWOOD, Calif. (AP) — The United States kept Christian Pulisic on the bench and sent out nine new starters for its final World Cup group match against Turkey on Thursday night with its knockout-round place already secured.
The American team has already won its group and clinched a matchup with Bosnia-Herzegovina in the Round of 32 next week, so coach Mauricio Pochettino used this meaningless final match to give playing time to the second string on his 26-man squad.
The Americans kept Pulisic on the bench to begin the match along with the four key U.S. players who have already picked up yellow cards: striker Folarin Balogun, Tyler Adams and top defenders Antonee Robinson and Chris Richards.
Pulisic said this week that he is ready to play again after coming out at halftime with a calf injury in the Americans’ 4-1 victory over Paraguay to open their home World Cup nearly two weeks ago. Pochettino said Wednesday he hadn’t decided how to use Pulisic against Turkey, but suggested he might play part of the game.
Weston McKennie and Ricardo Pepi were the only starters in the lineup against Turkey who also started the Americans’ 2-0 victory over Australia in Seattle last week. McKennie, the U.S. captain against Turkey, was the only player to start all three group matches, while Pepi remained in the lineup after replacing Pulisic against the Socceroos.
Pochettino also swapped out starting goalkeeper Matt Freese for Matt Turner, who was the Americans’ starter for all four matches at the Qatar World Cup four years ago.
The new starters were Turner, Auston Trusty, Gio Reyna, Brenden Aaronson, Miles Robinson, Sebastian Berhalter, Tim Weah, Mark McKenzie and Joe Scally.
Turner, Aaronson, McKenzie and Miles Robinson all got their first playing time at this World Cup.
The U.S. faces Bosnia on Wednesday, July 1, in Santa Clara, California.
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Comments
1 Comments
Bad loss tonight, that's going to have long-term negative effects.
Total moron move by Mauricio Pochettino leaving so many of his best players on the bench, he turned a game which the US should have won by 3-4 games, into a loss, while at the same time holding up a giant sign saying the USMNT reserves largely suck.
Matt Turner was awful in goal. Tim Weah wasted dozens of scoring opportunities that Dest would likely have converted into 3-4 goals or an equal number of assists. Pepi and Aaronson were only mildly awful, both specializing in not being able to stay on their feet, while being constantly punked by Turkey players who showed that neither one wanted to fight. There was no cohesion defensively, Mark McKenzie and again Weah being the worst offenders.
Pochettino made numerous coaching errors, the worst of which was waiting to insert Pulisic in the 2nd half. Pochettino then compounded his previous error, when he pulled Gio Reyna, who was the only teammate whose creativity constantly was setting up Pulisic. Pochettino inserted Alejandro Zendejas who melted when his opportunity arose, forcing Pulisic to move out of space on the wing where his threats are the highest, to handling the ball in traffic. Turkey immediately took advantage and brutalized Pulisic at every opportunity. To top his evening off, Zendejas had a chance to put the US up 3-2 late, but whiffed on a wide open shot with no one near him, right in front of goal, gagging his brains out.
It was a very painful game to watch. I fear it's like could return vs Bosnia-Herzegovina who are much better than Turkey.