When Auston Trusty opened the scoring in the third minute against Turkiye, the USMNT dreamt of having a perfect group stage record at the World Cup for the first time. But as it turned out, a 98th-minute winner from Kaan Ayhan delivered a knockout punch to their hopes. Nursing an apparent ankle injury, Trusty collected himself and believed they could take only positives from this game as they prepared for the knockouts.

Speaking to Fox Sports after the game, Trusty was honest in his assessment.

“I don’t know, I can’t really react to it. Honestly, I am in my head right now. I rolled my ankle pretty badly. I’ll be fine, no worries.
I feel like we had plenty of opportunities in the game. They had three shots, three goals. Just an unfortunate loss, we keep going,” he said.

Trusty had an injury scare in the 90th minute as he went down with an apparent ankle injury. But the defender was quickly up on his feet and was seen playing at full tilt. But he did address those concerns during the interview.

Trusty lashed home in the third minute from a Sebastian Berhalter corner to register his first World Cup goal for the USMNT. Seven minutes later, Real Madrid star Arda Guler equalized for Turkiye. Baris Yilmaz scored in the 31st minute as Turkiye took a 2-1 lead into the tunnel. The USMNT came out with purpose as Berhalter scored an equalizer in the 49th minute.

Mauricio Pochettino decided to introduce the fit-again Christian Pulisic in the 58th minute. But the star forward struggled to make an impact. As a 2-2 stalemate looked inevitable, Turkiye, who were desperate for a victory, threw bodies forward.

In the additional 8-minute injury time, Kaan Ayhan arrived at the far post to bundle a cut back home and break the hearts of the USMNT faithful. It was just their third shot on target, and to Trusty’s frustration, all shots on target resulted in goals.

Pochettino’s squad had twice as many shots as Turkiye, with 18, and even had seven shots on target. But they created an xG of just 2.01 as Turkiye were more efficient with 3.21 xG from just 9 shots.

“Won the group, that’s a positive. Put this behind you, learn from this. We had a lot of chances, but it’s just keep the ball out of the net, simple as that. Just react to it and move on,” Trusty replied to how they were viewing this defeat ahead of the knockouts.

In the grand scheme of things, this result will not change much. The USMNT won their group, and Turkiye were rooted to the fourth spot. Trusty knows this and was confident in maintaining a positive approach ahead of the all-important knockouts.

The USMNT is five wins away from immortality

After the USMNT struggled in the friendlies before the World Cup, fans didn’t expect much from the team. But a statement 4-1 victory against Paraguay was enough to hook the entire nation into soccer fever. A 2-0 victory against Australia saw them win back-to-back games for the first time since 1930 at the World Cup.

The manner of the victories, the offensive firepower, and the defensive resilience started conversations of the USMNT going all the way. From fans to pundits and analysts, the prospect of them winning was becoming very real. Pochettino’s high-intensity game is drawing more fans with each passing day.

But having secured knockout progression, the final group stage game against Turkiye posed a unique challenge. Pochettino had to protect players who were booked in the earlier rounds and also had to give minutes to the squad. He made nine changes to the lineup that beat Australia six days ago.

Trusty started his first game at the World Cup thanks to those changes. The defender who had calf and foot injuries previously will be hoping this ankle injury is a minor one as he prepares for the knockouts.

The real challenge for his team begins now. Thanks to an extended 48-team World Cup, the knockouts now begin in the round of 32, and a team needs to win five knockout games in a row to lift the title. The USMNT’s third-place finish at the inaugural 1930 World Cup remains its best finish at the tournament.

They will face Bosnia and Herzegovina for the first time in a competitive setup in the round of 32. With two wins and a draw in three friendlies against Bosnia so far, they will enter the game as favorites. Bosnia managed to qualify for the knockouts as one of the best third-placed teams.

If the USMNT do manage to pass the Bosnia test, they are tentatively set to meet the winner of the Egypt-South Korea game in the round of 16. They might go face-to-face with Spain in the quarterfinals. The path will get only tougher as they might face European powerhouses France/Germany in the semis.

Pochettino gave the squad an elite mentality and revealed that he asked his squad to draw inspiration from South Korea and Morocco, who had epic runs to the semifinals in the past. He asked his squad, “Why not us?” before the tournament to make them believe.

The team is full of confidence at the moment, and with sell-out crowds supporting them, they will be dreaming of an incredible triumph on home soil.