{"id":134658,"date":"2026-06-24T19:56:01","date_gmt":"2026-06-25T01:56:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/world-cup-what-to-know-us-faces-decisions-for-final-group-stage-game-against-winless-turkey\/"},"modified":"2026-06-24T19:56:01","modified_gmt":"2026-06-25T01:56:01","slug":"world-cup-what-to-know-us-faces-decisions-for-final-group-stage-game-against-winless-turkey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/world-cup-what-to-know-us-faces-decisions-for-final-group-stage-game-against-winless-turkey\/","title":{"rendered":"World Cup what to know: US faces decisions for final group-stage game against winless Turkey"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"United
United States' Christian Pulisic attends a training session ahead of a FIFA World Cup match against Turkey in Irvine, Calif., Tuesday, June 23, 2026. (AP Photo\/Andre Penner)<\/span>(AP Photo\/Andre Penner)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The United States returns to the pitch for its final World Cup<\/a> group-stage game with some decisions to make.<\/p>\n

The Americans have already won Group D to lock up a spot in the knockout stage and will face winless Turkey in Inglewood, California, on Thursday.<\/p>\n

Christian Pulisic<\/a> returned to training after missing a 2-0 win over Australia<\/a>, but coach Mauricio Pochettino has to decide how much to use his star player<\/a> in a game that’s meaningless in the standings and the knockout stage right around the corner.<\/p>\n

There are similar decisions to make with Tyler Adams, Folarin Balogun, Chris Richards and Antonee Robinson. They’re all on yellow cards and would miss the first knockout round game if they picked up a second against Turkey.<\/p>\n

The U.S. has won consecutive World Cup matches for the first time since 1930. Its six goals in the first two matches are one short of the team record for a World Cup.<\/p>\n

Turkey has yet to score a goal in its first World Cup in 24 years and is already eliminated.<\/p>\n

Thursday will be the second day with six matches, including Germany looking to win its third straight game, Ivory Coast aiming to make the knockout stage for the first time and Ecuador needing a win to escape the group stage.<\/p>\n

What to watch on June 25<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2014 Curacao vs. Ivory Coast , 4 p.m. EDT in Philadelphia (FS1\/Telemundo\/Peacock)<\/p>\n

\u2014 Ecuador vs. Germany, 4 p.m. EDT in East Rutherford, New Jersey (Fox\/Telemundo\/Peacock)<\/p>\n

\u2014 Japan vs. Sweden, 7 p.m. EDT in Arlington, Texas (Fox\/Telemundo\/Peacock)<\/p>\n

\u2014 Tunisia vs. The Netherlands, 7 p.m. EDT in Kansas City, Missouri (FS1\/Telemundo\/Peacock)<\/p>\n

\u2014 Paraguay vs. Australia, 10 p.m. EDT in Santa Clara, California (FS1\/Telemundo\/Peacock)<\/p>\n

\u2014 Turkey vs. United States, 10 p.m. EDT in Inglewood, California (Fox\/Telemundo\/Peacock)<\/p>\n

Ecuador faces must-win against Germany<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ecuador arrived at the World Cup on a 19-game winning streak.<\/p>\n

It could face an early exit if it can’t find a way to beat Germany in East Rutherford, New Jersey.<\/p>\n

Ecuador opened the World Cup with a 1-0 loss to Ivory Coast<\/a> on Amad Diallo’s goal in the 90th minute and played to a scoreless draw against Curacao<\/a>, the smallest nation in the World Cup.<\/p>\n

That leaves Ecuador trailing both Germany and Ivory Coast in Group E with one point and needing to beat the Germans, who have already clinched the group but will be without defender Nico Schlotterbeck<\/a> for the rest of the World Cup because of an ankle injury.<\/p>\n

Ivory Coast on the cusp of knockout stage<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ivory Coast has a chance to make history in its fourth World Cup.<\/p>\n

With a win already under their belt, the Elephants can clinch a spot in the knockout round for the first time with a win over Curacao in Philadelphia.<\/p>\n

Ivory Coast pulled off a 1-0 win over Ecuador<\/a> and had a halftime lead over Germany before losing 2-1<\/a>. Ivory Coast’s previous best chance to reach the knockout stage came in Brazil in 2014 when it opened with a win over Japan before losing the next two games.<\/p>\n

Curacao still has an outside shot of reaching the knockout round, needing a win and some goal-differential help from Ecuador. Curacao has a goal differential of minus-6, thanks to an opening 7-1 loss to Germany<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Group F winner still up in the air<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Netherlands and Japan will be playing for the top spot in Group F on Thursday night \u2014 the Dutch play Tunisia, the Japanese face Sweden \u2014 but both teams have said they want no updates on each other as their games are progressing.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have to focus on making sure you win the match,\u201d said Netherlands coach Ronald Koeman, whose team has a record World Cup unbeaten streak of 14 matches excluding penalty shootouts. \u201cWe would love to be first in the group and of course the result will have an impact on that, but that\u2019s not the most important thing. Playing this game is the most important thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Netherlands and Japan both have four points and a plus-four goal differential. Sweden is at three points with its 5-1 loss to Dutch<\/a>.<\/p>\n

To finish first in the group, Sweden has to win and have the Netherlands do no better than a draw.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s literally my first rodeo in terms of a World Cup so it\u2019s going to be new to me,\u201d Sweden coach Graham Potter said. \u201cBut yeah, it\u2019s best for us to try to get the positive results and focus on that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Paraguay, Australia play for second in Group D<\/strong><\/p>\n

There\u2019s plenty at stake in the final Group D match between Australia and Paraguay.<\/p>\n

The Australians will clinch second place in the group and a spot in the knockout round with either a win or draw. Paraguay clinches second place with a win and is almost assured advancement as a third-place team with a draw. The situation will me more tenuous with a loss for either team, with goal differential likely deciding the fate.<\/p>\n

The game is a bit of a full-circle moment for Socceroos coach Tony Popovic, who played his final international game as a player against Paraguay in a friendly 20 years ago when he scored his eighth international goal.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t score many so I have to remind you of that,\u201d Popovic said. \u201cIt was a special way to end my international career. To think that all these years later I\u2019ll be the head coach and we\u2019re up against Paraguay is special. That was a great day and hopefully tomorrow will a special day for Australia against Paraguay once more.\u201d<\/p>\n

Australia will be without defender Jacob Italiano and forward Mat Leckie, who are dealing with injuries.<\/p>\n

Paraguay will be without midfielder Miguel Almiron<\/a>, who is suspended after getting a red card for covering his mouth during a confrontation against Turkey. Mauricio will start in his place, coach Gustavo Alfaro said.<\/p>\n

More World Cup news<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2014 Switzerland wraps up first place in Group B at the World Cup with a 2-1 victory over Canada<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Bosnia-Herzegovina boosts chances of advancing at World Cup with 3-1 win over Qatar<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Qatar\u2019s Assim Madibo banned for 5 games after breaking the leg of Canada\u2019s Isma\u00ebl Kon\u00e9 at World Cup<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 ‘Our idol is back’: Neymar debuts in this World Cup as a sub for Brazil against Scotland<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Cape Verde goalkeeper Vozinha seeks new club after World Cup stardom, doesn\u2019t rule out Brazil move<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Day 14 of the World Cup, in photos<\/a><\/p>\n

Stats of the day<\/strong><\/p>\n

Switzerland has qualified for the knockout phase for the seventh consecutive time in major tournament football (World Cups and UEFA Euros).<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP sports writers Dave Skretta, Josh Dubow and Stephen Hawkins contributed to this story.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP World Cup: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/fifa-world-cup<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

United States' Christian Pulisic attends a training session ahead of a FIFA World Cup match against Turkey in Irvine, Calif., Tuesday, June 23, 2026. (AP Photo\/Andre Penner)(AP Photo\/Andre Penner) The United States returns to the pitch for its final World Cup group-stage game with some decisions to make. The Americans have already won Group D […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":134659,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5734],"tags":[],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-134658","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-associated-press"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134658","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=134658"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134658\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/134659"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=134658"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=134658"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=134658"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=134658"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}