Kaan Ayhan scored with the final kick of the game as Turkiye denied the United States an unbeaten World Cup Group D campaign, earning a thrilling 3-2 win in Los Angeles. 

With top spot already secured, Maurico Pochettino made almost wholesale changes as Weston McKennie and Ricardo Pepi were the only survivors from the USA side that beat Australia.

Both goalkeepers were beaten inside the opening 10 minutes, with Auston Trusty powering the co-hosts ahead before Arda Guler scored Turkiye's first goal of the 2026 World Cup from their 63rd shot at the tournament.  

Baris Alper Yilmaz and Sebastian Berhalter exchanged goals either side of half-time, but Ayhan pounced in the 98th minute to send the USA into their last-32 tie against Bosnia-Herzegovina off the back of a defeat. 

The USA have made a habit of starting their games quickly, and it was a similar story here as, having already worked Ugurcan Cakir, Trusty brought down Berhalter's deep corner at the far post and rifled home in the third minute.

But Turkiye were not behind for long, ending their drought in style as Guler steered his left-footed finish past Matt Turner following a clever reverse pass from Yilmaz.

Mark McKenzie had what would have been his first goal for the USA disallowed for offside, and Turkiye struck again in the 31st minute as Guler was involved in a slick move that resulted in Eren Elmali getting to the byline. He picked his head up before cutting it back from the left for Orkun Kokcu, whose effort glanced in off Yilmaz's knee.

The USA continued to threaten from set-pieces as Trusty sent a towering header over in first-half stoppage time, and it was McKenzie's long throw that led to their 49th-minute leveller. Amid a scramble in the area, Turkiye could only clear as far as Berhalter, whose sweet half-volley from the edge of the area skipped off the turf and in.

Christian Pulisic made his return from injury off the bench and had two chances within five minutes, the second of which drew a spectacular save onto the post from Cakir, while he also sent a left-footed curler wide from 20 yards out.

Kenan Yildiz was unfortunate with a similar effort at the other end, but Turkiye would snatch all three points as Ayhan stretched to prod Can Uzun's centre over the line.

Turkiye finally find their shooting boots

There have only ever been three instances of a team making more changes to their starting XI between games at a single World Cup than the USA's nine for this one – Spain in 2006 against Saudi Arabia (11), Belgium in 2018 against Japan (10) and Brazil in 2022 in South Korea (10).

Those alterations did not initially slow the USA as Trusty scored the second-fastest goal in their World Cup history (2:13), after Clint Dempsey against Ghana in 2014 (0:30).

Turkiye grew into the game, though, with Guler's equaliser giving them a newfound belief. Having failed to score with 62 shots across their defeats to Australia and Paraguay, they netted with their first two attempts in this match.

However, the USA made a flying start to the second half, too, becoming the first team to score in the opening four minutes of both halves in a World Cup match since Nigeria versus Argentina in 2014. Their eight goals at the 2026 tournament are already a new team record. 

There was to be one final twist, though, with Ayhan subduing a star-studded California crowd. The USA have only won one of their last 20 World Cup matches against European teams (D7 L12), a record they will have to improve on in the round of 32. 

Turkiye only had half as many shots as the USA (nine to 18), but they won the expected goals (xG) battle by 2.71 to 2.06, so they may argue the result was deserved.