Turkey beat the USA in a dramatic match, but failed to qualify for the 2026 World Cup play-offs
The Turkish national team beat the USA in their third Group D match of the 2026 FIFA World Cup. The match at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood ended 3–2.
The Americans opened the scoring as early as the 3rd minute. Sebastian Berhalter took a corner towards the far post, where Auston Trusty met the ball and slotted it into the net from a tight angle.
The Turks responded quickly. In the 10th minute, Arda Güler finished off a pass from Barış Yılmaz to level the score.
In the 31st minute, Turkey took the lead. Orkun Kekçi struck a precise shot from outside the penalty area.
At the start of the second half, the USA levelled the score once again. In the 49th minute, Sebastian Berhalter collected the ball near the edge of the penalty area and fired a powerful shot into the near corner.
The match was decided in stoppage time. In the 90+8th minute, Kaan Ayhan scored the winning goal to secure victory for Turkey.
In the other Group D match, Paraguay and Australia played out a 0–0 draw.
At the end of the group stage, the USA, with 6 points, had already secured top spot in Group D and progressed to the round of 32. In the play-offs, the Americans will face Bosnia and Herzegovina, who finished third in Group B. The match will take place on 2 July at 03:00 Kyiv time.
Australia, with 4 points, qualified for the play-offs in second place. Paraguay, who also scored 4 points, still have a good chance of reaching the round of 32 as one of the best third-placed teams.
Turkey, with 3 points, finished bottom of the group, bringing their World Cup campaign to an end.
The 2026 World Cup runs from 11 June to 19 July in the USA, Mexico and Canada. This is the first World Cup to feature 48 teams. The top two teams from each group, as well as the eight best third-placed teams, will advance to the play-offs.
