The USMNT already knew its opponent in the upcoming Round 32 when manager Mauricio Pochettino sat down to fill out his starting 11 for the group stage finale against Turkey. As a result, there were nine changes from the lineup that blanked Australia. Weston McKennie and Ricardo Pepi were the only holdovers. An early strike from Auston Trusty in the third minute made it appear that a stress test of the U.S. depth would not be an issue. Then the Americans’ defense fell apart, ultimately leading to a Kaan Ayhan game-winner for Turkey in the final seconds of the match.

A 3-2 loss was certainly not what Team USA was looking for after starting the World Cup on the front foot. They’ll carry a little less momentum into the first knockout test against Bosnia Herzegovina Wednesday in Los Angeles. Yet nothing has really changed. Pochettino and his side passed the real test by quickly wrapping up the top spot in Group D and collected seven points in the group stage. When his best lineup was on the field, the USMNT looked like a squad perfectly capable of advancing and pushing even the top sides in the world to the limit.

So perhaps that’s why Pochettino had such a tough time with the tenor and tone of questions during his postgame press conference. In addition to categorizing them as “a bit weird”, the skipper also said it was sad that no reporter congratulated him and the players for clinching the group.

The defeat to Turkey means the Americans missed out on making history as they have never won all three group stage matches in a World Cup.

Pochetti’s postgame presss conference

Pochettino does not seem to care about that.

“Making history is winning the World Cup,” he said. “It’s not winning three matches only within the World Cup. I don’t really understand. It’s a little bit petty if you will — you’re thinking a little too small. You’re telling me you could make history — what does it mean to win three matches if you lose the next one?”

“The mood is like we [are going] home tonight and Türkiye is staying,” the U.S. coach added. “I need to [remind] you and everyone that we won the group. Sorry guys, we won.”

When I first saw the headline about Pochettino taking umbrage with “petty” questions, I’ll admit there was a strong urge to get a small pitchfork out and go full ugly American. How dare he not know how important winning at all costs is to us! The European mind could simply never understand!

But you know what? He’s right.

Once the initial sting of magically turning a hard-fought draw into a loss wears off, the rational mind can grasp that it doesn’t really matter. Winning would have kept vibes high. Yet this is just a dark lining of a very bright silver cloud.

Breezing through the group stage without breaking a sweat was a gift. Nothing is guaranteed for a country that has not proven itself reliable in the World Cup through the years. Yet Pochettino had the luxury of resting players and observing how the rest of the roster reacted to the big stage. A manager could not ask for anything more.

Heck, it’s probably a good thing that he now knows who cannot be trusted. That’s a much better thing to discover in a meaningless match as opposed to when facing elimination. Losing is not okay … unless it’s okay.

Pochettino is right

Pochettino’s point about the relative importance of the Turkey match compared to the do-or-die affair against Bosnia and Herzegovina is worth repeating. What is the value of winning all three group stage battles only to bow out early against a beatable opponent? If that had happened, not a single supporter of the USMNT would care at all about a silly 3-0 start.

The thing is now Pochettino needs to back it up a bit. If he thinks the questions last night were petty then he might be in for a rude awakening if Team USA lays an egg in the Round of 32. Expectations have been raised. Anything short of the quarterfinals is going to be seen as a major disappointment.

So, yes, that loss doesn’t matter. For now. It’s erased completely with a win on Wednesday. It’ll matter a heck of a lot if leads to a second straight defeat when it matters most.

Jury’s still out but for now I’m on coach’s side.

Australia qualified for the 2026 World Cup knockout rounds on Thursday after battling to a 0-0 draw with Paraguay in Santa Clara to claim second place in Group D.

The Socceroos, who defeated Turkiye in their opening match before losing to the United States, were never seriously threatened on their way to securing a point to reach the last 32 at Levi’s Stadium in northern California.

It marks only the third time that Australia have advanced beyond the group stage in seven appearances at the World Cup.

The draw also left Paraguay firmly on course for the knockout rounds as one of the eight best third-placed teams in the group stage.

The United States had already secured top spot in Group D despite their 3-2 defeat to Turkey in Los Angeles on Thursday.

More to follow…

A ‌Russian team may be allowed to participate ⁠in ⁠a FIFA event for the first time since Moscow’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine after ⁠football’s global authority said its inaugural U-15 World Cup and Festival, set to be ⁠held in Azerbaijan in October, is open to all FIFA member associations.

FIFA banned Russia from international competition in February 2022 after it invaded ‌Ukraine, but it lifted the suspension from the country’s U-17 boys’ and girls’ teams the next year.

However, Russian teams have remained absent from U-17 tournaments organised by FIFA and UEFA as several European countries, including Ukraine ⁠and England, continue to boycott ⁠Russia over its ongoing invasion of its neighbour.

“The first edition will be open to boys’ teams from all FIFA ⁠member associations, the second instalment in 2027 will feature girls’ ⁠teams only,” FIFA said on ⁠Wednesday about the U-15 World Cup and Festival.

“From 2028 onwards, all member associations will be invited to participate with ‌both their boys’ and girls’ U-15 teams in two separate competitions.”

The U-15 event will kick ‌off ‌on October 22 and conclude nine days later.

New York — Fifty-two years separated Haiti’s last two World Cup goals from the two scored against Morocco on Wednesday. For 52-year-old Murielle Lodvil, the wait spanned her entire lifetime.

She was one of the many watching from the pockets of New York’s Little Haiti, where bars and restaurants fell quiet as fans watched the match unfold on screens before it burst into further chaos: an equaliser, a goal and then another equaliser in the frantic first half.

Haiti went into the last group match with Morocco with elimination already sealed, after losing to both Scotland and Brazil in Group C. Haiti would concede twice more, but the result did little to diminish the occasion for Murielle.

As a birthday gift to herself, she bought tickets for her and 41-year-old sister, Barbara Albert, to watch Haiti face Brazil last week.

“That is why Haiti participating on this world stage was so special to me,” she said. “Every moment of this experience counts, ending with two goals, even with the outcome.”

Ms Albert said the experience at the Brazil match underscored the pride many supporters felt simply seeing Haiti return to the World Cup stage.

“The representation was really good. We’re proud of our Haitian community. We really showed up for them,” she said.

The sense of pride was also visible at the UBS Arena in Elmont, New York last Wednesday. The state is home to the country’s second-largest Haitian community, home to about 113,000 Haitian residents, according to the US Census Bureau in 2024.

Last week, an hour before Haiti faced Brazil, the Haitian flags were already gone. The Brazil flags, handed out alongside them at the door, remained half-stacked on distribution tables.

Thousands in wigs, Haitian jerseys and flags draped over their shoulders had filled the nearly sold-out, 19,000 seat stadium, with a handful in Brazilian yellow and green. Amid the sea of red and blue was Maude Schwartz, who waved a Haitian flag as she danced into the arena alongside her family, pumping her hands up in the air.

The 58-year-old Pilates studio owner, who moved to the US from Haiti in 1990 on a student visa, had come seeking a taste of the World Cup atmosphere. While her twin sons were at the match, she was satisfied with a $10 ticket to the watch party.

“Oh my goodness, my entire family is here,” she said, gesturing at the crowd around her.

But not everyone that wanted to be here could make it. “I have a niece who has repeatedly been denied a visa to come to the United States,” she said.

Her experience reflects broader constraints facing Haitian supporters. A travel ban imposed by the Trump administration, which began last year and was expanded in January, kept some supporters like Maude’s niece from attending.

Even players were affected. The defensive midfielder Woodensky Pierre, who lives in Haiti, was unable to travel to the United States to join the national team until 10 days before Haiti’s opening match against Scotland on June 13th.

“This is a world event and people should not be denied entry to this country,” said 55 year old Jean-Marc, a former player in the Long Island Football League dressed in a Haitian jersey and a wig dyed in the national colours. Born in the US to Haitian parents, he spent part of his childhood in Haiti before returning in 1986, following the fall of the Duvalier regime many called a dictatorship.

Watching Haiti compete in the country he has lived in for decades, he called it a “momentous event for all Haitians”.

‘Afraid of a raid’

Back in Flatbush, the Brooklyn neighbourhood that many call Little Haiti, Nadege Fleurimond has thrown open the doors of her Haitian-Caribbean restaurant, BunNan, for every Haiti match, offering those priced out of the stadium, a way in.

She came to the United States from Haiti as a seven-year-old and has watched immigration uncertainty touch nearly every Haitian family she knows. Watching Haiti’s World Cup run in the country where she built her life carried its own weight.

“I am Haitian, and I am also American,” she said. “The United States gave me opportunities, education and the ability to build businesses and create jobs. Haiti gave me my roots, my values, my resilience and my culture,” she added.

“It’s a reminder that immigrants don’t have to choose one identity over the other,” she added.

For Fleurimond, who grew up hearing more stories about what Haiti couldn’t do than what it could, the team’s appearance alone in the World Cup was enough.

“It was proof that we belong in rooms and on stages people often count us out of,” she said.

Celebrations in Little Haiti