The U.S. men’s national team might have ended its group stage on a last-gasp loss, falling 3–2 in stoppage time to already-eliminated Türkiye last Thursday; however, despite the poor performance, manager Mauricio Pochettino believed that day went exactly as it should have. The team walked away with no injuries and no yellow card suspensions, while still holding the Group D crown.
The Americans won out the group with consecutive victories over Paraguay and Australia, while relying on Paraguay to upset the Turkish and seal their exit. Therefore, the USMNT’s match against Türkiye was made meaningless, and the USMNT is adamant to view the subsequent loss as meaningless too.
