Los Angeles, June 26 (IANS) Already-eliminated Turkiye ended a disappointing FIFA World Cup 2026 campaign on a high by edging out Group D winners and co-hosts USA 3-2 here at Los Angeles Stadium on Friday.

With top spot already assured, Mauricio Pochettino shuffled his US pack, making no fewer than nine changes to the team that sealed qualification by beating Australia. For Turkiye, it’s a positive end to a disappointing campaign as they at least go home with a victory in their bag.

Auston Trusty opened the scoring early with his first goal. After Turkiye scored twice later in the first half, Sebastian Berhalter responded with a banger just minutes into the second half. The Crescent-Stars found the winner on the last touch of the game deep into second-half stoppage time.

Within three minutes, Trusty brought down a deep corner from Sebastian Berhalter and crashed home a left-foot shot to give USA an ealry lead in 2 minutes and 13 seconds, second-fastest goal in USMNT World Cup history after Clint Dempsey who scored after 30 seconds against Ghana in 2014.

Turkiye, already bruised and demoralised by their early elimination, came roaring back, levelling just seven minutes later when Arda Guler exchanged passes with Baris Yilmaz to break through the US defence and become his nation’s youngest World Cup goalscorer with a calm finish.

The star-studded Los Angeles crowd was silenced just after the half-hour mark when Eren Elmali squared for Baris Yilmaz to put Turkiye into the lead. Three minutes into the second half, Sebastian Berhalter restored parity with a powerful shot from the top of the box, sneaking one inside the near post for his first World Cup goal.

Berhalter becomes the first USA player on record (since 1966) to record both a goal and an assist in a single World Cup match. The goal was also the USMNT’s eighth of this year’s tournament, now a record for the most goals scored by the U.S. in a single World Cup, surpassing the record of seven set in 1930 and equalled in 2002.

Despite some lively attacking play from the returning Christian Pulisic, it was Turkiye who snatched all three points when Kaan Ayhan scrambled home a late, late winner in the eighth minute of stoppage time.

–IANS

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