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Visitors to the palace that the people at FIFA prefer you reference as “LA Stadium” still will get the opportunity to amble around one of America’s modern architectural wonders. They’ll be able to sing the songs and wear the gear and root for their teams to win a World Cup game late Thursday evening.
They just won’t see a soccer game that matters.
To anyone.
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Well, that may be harsh. The crew officiating the United States vs. Turkey will want to do a great job and earn assignments later in the tournament. The U.S. men’s national team players who take the field will want to make a strong impression on coach Mauricio Pochettino in case they might be needed when the team appears in the Round of 32 (and, they hope, beyond).
As far as the players who put the USMNT into this position in the first two World Cup games – advancing to the knockout rounds as Group D winners – pretty much every one of them should have one of the best seats in the stadium as the game begins. And they should stay there for 90 minutes, save the occasion to celebrate goals or offer encouragement to the guys playing during hydration breaks.
The USMNT have not been in this situation in the modern era. Their opportunity to continue in the World Cup always has been dependent on results of the final group games. And so the unfamiliar external debate in advance of the Turkey game comes down to two choices:
1) Play the starters and risk yellow-card accumulation for four key regulars and injury for everyone else – particularly star forward Christian Pulisic, who missed the Australia game with a calf injury;
2) Bench the starters and risk losing the momentum the USMNT build in consecutive victories against Paraguay and Australia by a combined 6-1 margin.
It’s obvious which of these two is the greater concern.
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Fox Sports analyst Clarence Seedorf said during one appearance that preserving that rhythm and confidence the U.S. has built is more important, and he pointed out coaches often will trust players who’ve received a yellow card caution early in a game not to pick up another for 80 minutes or more. The problem with this logic is it ignores those players are remaining on the field to help win that particular game, which almost certainly means something: positioning in league standings, advancement in a big tournament.
It also assumes momentum will be sustained rather than surrendered by a team playing with no incentive or by an unfortunate outcome, such as an injury or a yellow-card suspension.
With the U.S. having claimed Group D with their two victories, and with Turkey eliminated through losses to Australia and Paraguay, this game has no consequence. The Americans know when this one is done they’ll resume training camp and then head to the Bay Area for a Round of 32 game against an undetermined third-place team from another group. Turkey will travel back home and likely wonder how they played two games that mattered without scoring a goal.
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Through the first two games of group play, the USMNT wound up with four essential players who each were assigned a single yellow card: midfield Tyler Adams, central defender Chris Richards, left back Antonee Robinson and striker Folarin Balogun. The new rules of the competition state that if any were to receive a second caution in group play, that player would be suspended for the subsequent game.
If one were to rank the team’s most important players through two rounds, all would be included among the top five or six.
For the first time, single yellow cards will be cleared after group play. So if they sit out the Turkey game, whatever happened before won’t be held against them. The U.S. can’t afford to lose any of them for a game that matters.
Pulisic needs more recovery time more than he needs a good training run. If the U.S. coaches believe something like that is necessary in the five days they have off in between rounds, they could ring up the LA Galaxy and LAFC and see if anyone’s up for a “friendly”.
The USMNT still have six field players who’ve not yet appeared in this World Cup: wingers Alejandro Zendejas and Brenden Aaronson, wingback Max Arfsten and defenders Miles Robinson and Mark McKenzie and midfielder Christian Roldan. Forward Haji Wright has played but a few minutes, and winger Tim Weah and defenders Joe Scally and Auston Trusty just slightly more than that. The opportunity to play more in this tournament would be healthy for all of them.
Only nine of those guys are healthy, so either Roldan would need to recover in time or at least one starter would have to join them. There also would be a choice to make in goal: starting keeper Matt Freese or a sub like Matt Turner, so he can gain competitive sharpness in case he’s needed in a future round.
High-class questions such as these are new to the USMNT on the World Cup stage.
There is a right answer, though.
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