IRVINE, Calif. — The U.S. men’s national team approaches its final game of the group stage with a luxury it has never had before at a World Cup. The game doesn’t matter.
Of course, everyone wants to keep the momentum going after two rousing wins that clinched the group with a game to spare. And beating Turkey would be a feather in the cap for Mauricio Pochettino’s side, especially when the USMNT hasn’t beaten a European opponent since a 2021 friendly against Bosnia.
But the Turks, eliminated in disastrous fashion after failing to score a goal on more than 60 shots across two games, have nothing to play for but pride. Ditto for the Americans, who are already locked in to play a round of 32 match — very possibly against Bosnia, ironically — in Santa Clara on July 1.
Which means that you can expect heavy rotation from Pochettino, especially with four players on a yellow card and Christian Pulisic’s left calf injury rendering his status unclear.
Single yellow cards are wiped clean after the group stage, but picking up a second would leave a player suspended for the round of 32. So there’s little reason for the U.S. to risk any of Tyler Adams, Chris Richards, Antonee Robinson or Folarin Balogun — all of whom the Americans need on the field in knockout games — in the name of getting a result in what will be a glorified friendly.
“You’re asking the wrong guy, man,” Adams said when asked about the situation. “I want to play every game.”
Adams, who picked up his yellow against Paraguay, did get through the 2-0 win over Australia without a second. But given his role defending counterattacks and getting stuck in defensively, he’s arguably the most at-risk player to pick up a card on any given day.
“At moments when I want to do something stupid, I try to tame myself a little bit,” Adams said Friday of his mindset. “When things [got] physical today, I was kinda the peacemaker today, to be honest with you. I didn’t get in any scraps or do anything too dumb. You think about it, but at the same time, I’m not taking away my aggressiveness. That’s also what makes me a good player.”
The situation with Pulisic, whose injury has taken a backseat in the discourse since Friday, is the most interesting.
If he is available to play — and though the noise about that has been optimistic, it was also optimistic he’d play against Australia, before it wasn’t — there’s a fair argument he should get some minutes under his belt. Nineteen days between the Paraguay game and the round of 32 would be a long enough layoff that it’s something for Pochettino to consider.
If Pulisic is at any risk of aggravating the injury, or would need to play through it, then of course there’s little reason to indulge that risk.
Though rotating the entire starting 11 might be a step too far — Pochettino would want to keep some continuity after all — this could be a moment for players like Cristian Roldan, Tim Weah, Alex Zendejas or Mark McKenzie to get into a game. Gio Reyna and Sebastian Berhalter, who have come on as subs in the first two games, could be candidates for an extended look as well.
“It’s too early to talk about our decision against Turkey,” Pochettino said after the game, a few hours before the U.S. officially clinched its group. “I cannot anticipate nothing [about] what we are going to do. … But we are 28 players training, 26 on the [roster], and all the players have the capacity to play and they are qualified to play.”