By Becky Sullivan | NPR

INGLEWOOD — For the U.S. men's national soccer team, a loss in Thursday night's FIFA World Cup game against Turkey wouldn't change anything.

A win, though, would be history.

The squad's earlier wins over Paraguay and Australia, plus two losses by Turkey to the same teams, mean the Americans have already won their group and clinched a favorable path in the knockout round, no matter the outcome of Thursday's game.

But the American men have never won more than two games in a single World Cup. A third win would be new territory for this team, which has not been shy about its aspirations in this tournament and its confidence about living up to them.

"The group stage is not done yet. We want to end it the right way. We want to end it the way we came into it and continue to build off of the momentum that we've been creating," said defender Mark McKenzie, speaking to reporters Wednesday.

Because the outcome of the game does not affect knockout-round placement, the U.S. can rest key starters who will enter the match with a yellow card. For those players — defenders Antonee Robinson and Chris Richards, midfielder Tyler Adams and forward Folarin Balogun — picking up a second yellow card against Turkey would result in a suspension in the Round of 32. (Any single yellow cards will be cleared after the group stage concludes.)

The team could also choose to ease in forward Christian Pulisic, who is expected to be available for the game after sitting out the U.S.-Australia game with a minor calf injury.

Turkey had come into the World Cup with high expectations. With talented young stars like the 21-year-old attackers Arda Güler of Real Madrid and Kenan Yildiz of Juventus, the team was thought by many — from analysts to the players themselves — to be a dark horse capable of a deep run.

Instead, they were eliminated last week when their loss to Paraguay followed the U.S. win over Australia, prompting apologies from Turkey's despondent players to their fans after the game.

On Wednesday, Yildiz echoed that apology and promised to "give our best" in Thursday's game against the U.S. "We had high expectations. I know because all of our country was supporting us and thought we will come very far," Yildiz said. "Hopefully for the next game we can make a good result and go out with pride."

The U.S. and Turkey last faced each other in an international friendly in June 2025, which Turkey won 2-1. The U.S. roster for that game was missing several key players, including Pulisic, Robinson, Balogun and midfielder Weston McKennie.

"We had a really young team, but we went out there and put in a good performance. I don't think the result necessarily reflected how we played," Richards said. "Whoever's on the field, I know we're going to go out there and give 110 percent."
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