So the United States doesn’t sweep through Group D, heads into the World Cup’s knockout stage off defeat — and what a stunning defeat, right at the last tick of the clock — and sees all that momentum built through the invigorating victories over Paraguay and Australia disappear into the mist.
So what?
Thursday night’s 3-2 loss to Türkiye at SoFi Stadium might have felt like a “gut punch” when it arrived, but the Yanks’ biggest priorities weren’t about winning. There’s bigger things afoot, and that’s the only context that matters. Trust the process.
Head coach Mauricio Pochettino, his focus on Wednesday’s round-of-32 faceoff in Santa Clara with an immensely challenging Bosnia and Herzegovina side, called the result “anecdotal” in a testy postgame media session, said “there were things to put in the book” other than a record third victory, that his is “a much better team now,” and that what he saw “made me feel very positive about the future.”
The best U.S. defeat in its World Cup annals? Well … uh, yeah. Let’s look at it that way. That’s how the Yanks are exiting their third group-stage title in a dozen of these tournaments. Business was completed in the first two games, this was about something else, and that something else worked, even when it didn’t. Everyone inside says so.
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