INGLEWOOD, Calif. (AP) — The United States kept Christian Pulisic on the bench and sent nine new starters to the Finals. world cup A group game against Türkiye will be held on Thursday night, and a place in the final round has already been decided.
The American team has already won the group stage and has decided to play the next team. Bosnia and Herzegovina Next week in the round of 32 Manager Mauricio Pochettino took advantage of this pointless final to give playing time to the No. 2 player on the 26-man team.
The Americans started the game with Pulisic on the bench, along with four key players who had already received yellow cards: strikers Folarin Balogun and Tyler Adams, and top defenders Anthony Robinson and Chris Richards.
Pulisic said this week: he is ready to play again About two weeks ago, he left the U.S. national team’s 4-1 home World Cup opener against Paraguay at halftime with a calf injury. Pochettino said on Wednesday that he had not decided how he would use Pulisic against Turkey, but hinted that he could play part of the match.
Weston McKennie and Ricardo Pepi were the only players to start against Turkey, and they also started in the USA’s 2-0 win over Australia in Seattle last week. McKennie, who captained the U.S. national team against Turkey, was the only player to start in all three group games, while Pepi remained in the lineup against the Socceroos in place of Pulisic.
Pochettino also replaced the starting lineup. Goalkeeper Matt Freeze replaces Matt Turner. He started all four games for the U.S. team at the Qatar World Cup four years ago.
The new starters were Turner, Auston Trusty, Gio Reyna, Brenden Aaronson, Myles Robinson, Sebastian Berhalter, Tim Ware, Mark McKenzie, and Joe Scully.
Turner, Aaronson, McKenzie and Miles Robinson all made their World Cup debuts.
The United States will play Bosnia on Wednesday, July 1st in Santa Clara, California.
___
AP World Cup: https://apnews.com/FIFA-World-Cup
