Already-eliminated Türkiye ended a disappointing campaign on a high by edging Group D winners USA by the odd goal in five in Los Angeles.
With top spot already assured, Mauricio Pochettino shuffled his US pack, making no fewer than nine changes to the team that sealed qualification by beating Australia.
That offered some of the squad’s fringe players a chance to impress and, within three minutes, two of them grasped it when Auston Trusty brought down a deep corner from Sebastian Berhalter and crashed home a left-foot shot.
Türkiye, already bruised and demoralised by their early elimination, might have folded at that early setback.
Instead, they came roaring back, levelling just seven minutes later when Arda Guler exchanged passes with Baris Yilmaz to break through the US defence and become his nation’s youngest World Cup goalscorer with a calm finish.
Pocchetino’s backline continued to look vulnerable, and the star-studded Los Angeles crowd was silenced just after the half-hour mark when Eren Elmali squared for Orkun Kokcu to poke Türkiye into the lead.
Those fans were soon roaring the US forward again though, and they were rewarded for their encouragement three minutes into the second half when Berhalter added to his earlier assist with a goal – ferociously struck from the edge of the box – to restore parity.
Pocchetino began introducing some of his stars in the pursuit of victory.
But despite some lively attacking play from the returning Christian Pulisic, it was Türkiye who snatched all three points.
That was when Kaan Ayhan scrambled home a late, late winner in the eighth minute of stoppage time in the game played in Los Angeles.
