U.S. National Team Struggles Against Turkey: Player Ratings and Analysis
Auston Trusty’s thumping header, Sebastian Berhalter’s sweetly struck drive and a bruising reminder of World Cup reality. The United States walked away from their meeting with Turkey with more questions than answers, and a set of player performances that told a complicated story.
Turner’s chance slips away
Mauricio Pochettino handed Matt Turner a surprise start, a rare opening to claw back ground in the battle with Matt Freese. He did not seize it.
Turner faced three shots on target. Three went in. None were howlers, but none carried the stamp of a goalkeeper demanding the No. 1 shirt either. He did at least show sharp instincts off his line, sweeping up danger with a couple of timely interventions, and he now joins a small group of American keepers to start in multiple World Cups. On this evidence, that might be more a line on the résumé than a launchpad.
Rating: 4
Scally struggles to stretch the game
Joe Scally played as the conservative option at right-back, a stay-at-home counterpoint to the more adventurous Sergiño Dest and Alex Freeman. That caution did not translate into control.
He was dragged out of position twice on Turkey’s second goal, losing his bearings as the move developed. When he did venture forward, his delivery lacked bite; crosses drifted into harmless areas rather than asking questions of the back line. The game often moved around him, not through him.
Rating: 5
McKenzie and Robinson: uneasy foundations
At the heart of defense, Mark McKenzie endured a mixed afternoon. Turkey sliced through him too easily on their first goal, and his long passing rarely hit its intended mark. A poacher’s finish from a corner briefly offered redemption, only for the flag to go up. He did channel the ball into midfield with some purpose, but the structure around him forced the full-backs to shoulder most of the progression.
Rating: 5
Alongside him, Miles Robinson needed time to settle. Early on, every touch near his zone seemed to carry a tremor of uncertainty. Once he calmed, he grew into the contest, yet the numbers told their own story: he led the team in “phases lost,” by Futi’s measure, through errant passing and hesitation on the ball. The raw tools were there; the composure wasn’t.
Rating: 5
Trusty’s high and low
On the left, Auston Trusty looked miscast again as a wing-back or full-back. Then the ball was swung into the box and he looked exactly where he belonged.
Trusty rose with conviction, powered his header home from a corner and gave the U.S. the lead with the kind of set-piece dominance coaches crave at this level. Beyond the goal, he offered himself as a passing outlet and worked hard to recover into defensive shape, limiting Turkey’s joy down their right flank.
The night soured late on. A left ankle issue forced him off, a worrying sight after such an assertive display.
Rating: 7
Berhalter shines in the chaos
Sebastian Berhalter produced the most complete performance in a U.S. shirt on the day.
Defensively, he had rough patches, losing some duels and allowing runners to slip by. Those moments will not define his outing. His set-piece quality, the very trait that helped him into this squad, delivered an assist on Trusty’s opener. From open play, he dictated more than anyone in red, white and blue.
Then came his own goal, struck from the edge of the area with the confidence of a player who has been here before. It was another entry in a growing catalogue of long-range finishes, and he backed it up by acting as the team’s most progressive passer, constantly looking to move the ball forward rather than sideways.
Rating: 8
McKennie wears the armband
With Cristian Roldan out, Weston McKennie stepped into the leadership void and wore the captain’s armband. He did not dominate the game, but he did steady it.
McKennie’s trademark hyperactivity was dialed down a notch, yet he remained the emotional thermostat, keeping a spark under his teammates when the match turned thorny. He carved out a few shooting chances of his own, though only one effort worked the goalkeeper. It was a mature, if not spectacular, captain’s shift.
Rating: 7
Reyna’s rhythm still missing
For Gio Reyna, the pattern felt familiar: bright ideas, limited endurance.
He moved intelligently, constantly offering himself as a passing option between the lines. Once he received the ball, though, he often chose to recycle possession instead of threading riskier passes that might have broken Turkey’s shape. Even so, he finished with the second-most box-entry passes on the team, behind only Berhalter.
The quality is obvious. The question remains the same: can he build the fitness and rhythm to influence games for longer than a half-hour stretch?
Rating: 5
Weah out of sync on the left
Tim Weah knows this role by now. Pochettino trusts his “dominant eye” to operate inverted off the left, cutting inside onto his stronger foot. The theory is sound. The execution against Turkey was not.
Too many passes went astray. First touches bounced away from him. Dribbles fizzled out against organized defenders. For a player with his experience and status in this group, the performance fell short of what the U.S. needed from a wide leader.
Rating: 5
Aaronson runs, but misses his moment
Brenden Aaronson delivered what fans have come to expect: relentless running, constant pressing, and a willingness to stretch the field.
Making his first World Cup start, the Leeds midfielder tried to pull the U.S. attack toward the right, opening lanes and chasing every lost cause. Then came his big chance. The goal gaped, the angle was kind, and he failed to connect cleanly with an unobstructed look at an open net. That miss will linger.
Rating: 5
Pepi’s quiet audition
Ricardo Pepi’s job was clear: drag Turkey’s center-backs into uncomfortable areas, create space for runners, and be ready when the chance arrived.
He handled the movement part, repeatedly dropping deep and wide to disrupt the defensive line. The problem came where it matters most. Touches in the box were scarce, his only shot flew off target, and the cutting edge that has excited Fulham fans ahead of a potential $35m move never surfaced.
Rating: 5
On a night when Berhalter and Trusty made strong cases for bigger roles, too many others drifted through the game. For a team trying to sharpen its identity on the world stage, performances like this don’t just get noted. They get remembered.
