At least Turkiye won’t leave the World Cup 2026 empty-handed after securing a 3-2 victory against the United States on Wednesday night at SoFi Stadium. However, they will depart from this year’s quadrennial tournament as one of the biggest what-ifs.
The Crescent Stars entered the match on the back of consecutive losses against Australia (2-0) and Paraguay (1-0), which sealed their fate in Group D. After going scoreless in those matches, they struck three times to outlast the tournament’s co-hosts, with Kaan Ayhan scoring in the final kick of the match.
Right behind the United States is Australia, whose goalless draw against Paraguay was enough for them to finish as the group’s second seed. The Socceroos have a superior goal difference over La Albirroja, who badly needed the win to avoid dropping to third place.
Let’s recap the World Cup 2026 results in Group D, courtesy of today’s SBOTOP review.
Turkiye 3-2 USA
Head coach Mauricio Pochettino deployed a rotated squad against Turkiye, which decreased their World Cup 2026 odds of winning. On Wednesday, he didn’t play Tyler Adams, Folarin Balogun, Chris Richards, and Antonee Robinson, who picked up one yellow card each in their previous matches.
Despite this, the United States needed only three minutes to go up 1-0, as Ashton Trusty fired the ball home after receiving the ball from a corner kick. Trusty has scored the second-fastest goal in the United States’ World Cup history (2:13) after Clint Dempsey against Ghana in 2014 (0:30).
But Turkiye replied seven minutes later through Arda Guler, who scored their first goal of the 2026 finals after a clever pass from Baris Alper Yilmaz.
Mark McKenzie had what would’ve been his first goal for the United States disallowed for offside, and Turkiye struck again in the 31st minute when Orkun Kokcu’s shot deflected off Yilmaz’s knee to go into the net.
McKenzie made amends for the United States, as his long throw in the 49th minute led to a leveller. During a scramble in the penalty area, Turkiye could only clear as far as Sebastian Berhalter, whose half-volley skipped off the grass and went into the net.
Christian Pulisic came onto the pitch for the first time since playing only the first half in their opener against Paraguay and missing the Australia match due to a calf injury, replacing Tim Weah, and the AC Milan star made an immediate impact. He had two chances within five minutes, the second of which drew a wonderful save from Ugurcan Cakir, while he also launched a left-footed curler wide from 20 yards.
However, Turkiye won the game in stoppage time, as Kaan Ayhan converted off a nutmeg pass from Can Uzun. By dealing the United States their only loss in Group D, the Stars and Stripes have now won only one of their last 20 World Cup matches against European sides (D7, L12).
Paraguay 0-0 Australia
In stark contrast to the Turkiye-USA game, the match between Paraguay and Australia was a drab affair at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara. The Socceroos had an expected goals (xG) of 0.58 from 12 shots to La Albirroja’s 0.25 xG from seven shots. Their combined 0.83 xG is the lowest of this year’s tournament thus far.
Australia looked more threatening in the opening half, and they could’ve gone ahead inside four minutes when Jackson Irvine tested Orlando Gill before Aiden O’Neill failed to test the Paraguayan goalie from distance. Cristian Volpato almost gave Australia the lead on the stroke of halftime, but Gill blocked his shot. Paraguay only had one shot before the break, as they couldn’t manufacture enough clear-cut opportunities.
Paraguay came out of the restart more determined, as they started on the front foot. Juan Jose Caceres, Andres Cubas, and Mauricio all had shots inside the first five minutes, but only Mauricio troubled Aussie goalkeeper Patrick Beach.
Both nations had late chances when Julio Enciso fired wide from range before Tete Yengi had a tame shot during stoppage time, and the spoils are shared.
Orlando Gill played a huge role in the draw, as the San Lorenzo star made five saves on his way to another clean sheet. On the other hand, Julio Enciso was largely anonymous in the final third, completing just two of his 11 attempted dribbles and failing to create a chance or attempt a shot on target.
Jordan Bos was arguably the Man of the Match for the Socceroos, as he had the most shots of any player (three), created the joint-most chances (three, tied with Volpato), and won seven of his nine aerial duels.
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