US World Cup Performance Against Turkey: Questions and Flaws
The United States walked off with more questions than answers after a wild, flawed World Cup outing against Turkey, a match that briefly promised a statement performance before dissolving into defensive frailty and missed chances.
Mauricio Pochettino’s side produced moments of real quality – a towering header, a thumping strike from distance, spells of brave passing through pressure – but they were undone by soft goals and uneven performances across the spine of the team.
Turner’s chance slips away
Matt Turner was handed a surprise start, a late-stage vote of confidence in a goalkeeping battle that has tilted heavily toward Matt Freese. He could not cash it in.
Three shots on target. Three goals conceded. None were absolute howlers, but none were rescued either, and on a night when he needed a defining save, it never came. Turner did flash his old instincts off the line with a couple of sharp sweeper interventions, reading danger early and racing out to clean up behind a stretched back line.
He now joins a select group of US goalkeepers to start in multiple World Cups, a notable line on the résumé. It will not, on this evidence, quiet the debate about who should be No. 1. Rating: 4.
Full-backs under strain
On the right, Joe Scally was asked to be the conservative option compared with Sergiño Dest or Alex Freeman. He looked it – and not in a reassuring way.
Scally struggled to keep pace as the game quickened, repeatedly dragged into uncomfortable areas. Turkey’s second goal exposed him twice in the same move, his positioning unraveling as the attack developed. When he did get forward, his delivery lacked bite, with crosses failing to trouble the Turkish back line. Rating: 5.
On the opposite flank, Auston Trusty again found himself in a role that doesn’t quite fit. He is not a natural wing-back, nor a classic overlapping full-back. Yet when the ball came dead and the big men went forward, he looked right at home.
Trusty rose superbly to head in the opening goal from a corner, timing his leap and planting his finish with authority. In open play, he offered steady passing outlets and worked hard to recover into defensive positions, doing as much as anyone to slow Turkey’s joy down their right side. His night ended on a sour note, hobbling off with what appeared to be a left ankle injury – a worrying sight given how assured he had been. Rating: 7.
Central defense: shaky foundations
Mark McKenzie never quite settled. He was bypassed too easily on Turkey’s first goal, caught out as the move sliced through the US shape. His long passing, usually a weapon, misfired; too many ambitious balls failed to find their targets.
He did think he’d made amends with a poacher’s finish from a corner, only to see it chalked off for offside. In build-up, he tried to funnel play into midfield, but the structure pushed more responsibility for progression onto the full-backs, leaving him looking more like a conduit than a conductor. Rating: 5.
Alongside him, Miles Robinson endured a nervy start. Any time the ball drifted into his zone in the opening stages, there was a hint of hesitation, a sense of a defender still calibrating to the tempo.
He gradually grew into the match, but the numbers told their own story: Robinson led the team in “phases lost,” per Futi, through a mix of loose passing and indecision on the ball. In a game that demanded clarity at the back, his choices often invited pressure instead of relieving it. Rating: 5.
Berhalter lights it up
If there was a US outfield player who grabbed this match and tried to bend it to his will, it was Sebastian Berhalter.
Defensively, he had his wobbles. Some of his off-ball work will not survive a harsh video review. But this squad place was earned on set-piece delivery and passing range, and on that front he delivered.
First came the corner for Trusty’s opener, whipped into a corridor that begged to be attacked. Then came his own goal – the pick of the bunch – a clean, confident strike from the edge of the area that added to a growing catalogue of long-range finishes. From open play he was the side’s most progressive passer by some distance, constantly looking to move the ball forward rather than sideways.
On a day when too many US players retreated into safe options, Berhalter kept trying to move the game up the pitch. Rating: 8.
McKennie leads, but can’t quite lift
With Cristian Roldan injured, Weston McKennie took the armband and the responsibility that comes with it. He didn’t hit his usual whirlwind levels of activity, yet he stayed involved in all the right moments.
McKennie nudged teammates on when the match turned scrappy, kept the temperature up in midfield, and tried to arrive late in the box when the chance presented itself. He managed a handful of shots, but only one forced the goalkeeper to work. It was a captain’s shift in attitude, if not in decisive end product. Rating: 7.
Reyna’s rhythm problem
Gio Reyna’s performance looked like a mirror of his club situation: flashes of class, but a body not yet tuned for sustained impact.
He roamed intelligently, constantly offering himself as a passing option, dropping into pockets and linking play. When the ball reached him, though, he often chose to recycle rather than risk the vertical pass that might split lines. The numbers still showed his influence – he finished with the second-most box-entry passes on the team, behind only Berhalter – but the sense lingered that there was more to be had if he had forced the issue.
Over an hour or more, his lack of regular extended minutes showed. Rating: 5.
Weah wasted on the wrong side
Tim Weah once again found himself inverted, operating from the left, a tactical tweak Pochettino has repeatedly justified by citing Weah’s “dominant eye.”
On this night, the experiment misfired. Weah’s usual sharpness deserted him: passes went astray, first touches bounced loose, and his dribbles rarely threatened to unhinge the Turkish defense. For a veteran presence in this squad, he offered too little incision, too little menace. Rating: 5.
Aaronson runs, but misses his moment
Brenden Aaronson’s first World Cup start looked very much like a Brenden Aaronson performance: relentless running, constant pressing, and a determination to stretch the field to the right.
He did all the dirty work, harrying defenders and trying to open lanes for teammates. Then came the chance that will stick with him. An unobstructed look at an open net, the sort of moment that can tilt a World Cup narrative in an instant – and he failed to connect. For all his industry, that miss will define his night. Rating: 5.
Pepi’s quiet audition
Ricardo Pepi’s job was clear: occupy Turkey’s center-backs, drag them into uncomfortable spaces, and be ready when the ball arrived in the box. He managed the first part well enough, frequently pulling defenders into deeper areas and creating pockets for others.
The problem came where it matters most. Touches in the penalty area were scarce, and his one shot flew off target. For a forward touted as Fulham’s potential $35 million signing-in-waiting, this was a subdued audition on the biggest stage. Rating: 5.
The US found goals from a defender and a deep-lying midfielder, yet never looked fully secure, never fully convinced. If this World Cup is to become more than a collection of what-ifs, someone in this group will have to turn these scattered flashes into something ruthless and repeatable.
