Turkey scored a stoppage-time winner to beat a United States team 3-2 on June 25 at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California, during their final Group D World Cup 2026 match [1, 2, 3, 4]. The winning goal came in the 98th minute from Kaan Ayhan, securing Turkey’s first win of the tournament despite being already eliminated from contention [1, 2, 5, 4].
The US fielded a heavily rotated squad, making nine changes from earlier matches and resting key starters after securing first place in Group D with 6 points ahead of the game [1, 2, 3, 6, 7]. Auston Trusty opened the scoring early for the US in the 3rd minute, and Sebastian Berhalter doubled their lead just after halftime [1, 2, 3, 6, 8].
Turkey responded with goals from Arda Guler and Baris Yilmaz to level the match before Ayhan’s late winner gave them a dramatic victory [1, 2, 3, 6, 8]. The game was attended by 70,492 fans at Los Angeles Stadium, also known as SoFi Stadium [6].
US coach Mauricio Pochettino stressed that the team had achieved their primary aim of topping Group D, despite the loss. He said, "At the moment no one congratulated us for finishing first in our group. I congratulate the players, the staff and the fans to finish first in a very difficult group" [5]. Pochettino expressed frustration with media focus on the loss rather than the group win, adding, "Our objective was to finish first, and we finished first. I'm so positive and I'm happy. Your questions are a little bit weird" [7, 9].
The US side was impacted by suspensions and injuries, with four players missing due to yellow card suspensions, contributing to the extensive rotation for the match [10].
The US will now meet Bosnia and Herzegovina in the round of 32 knockout stage on July 1, 2026, in Santa Clara, California [2, 5, 11].
