Türkiye stuns United States with stoppage-time winner at World Cup
Kaan Ayhan struck in the 98th minute as Türkiye overturned two U.S. leads and won 3-2 in Los Angeles, exposing a late collapse after nine American lineup changes.
Türkiye found the winner in the eighth minute of stoppage time and left the United States with more questions than answers after a 3-2 defeat in Los Ángeles on June 25, 2026. Kaan Ayhan’s right-footed finish in the 90+8 minute decided a five-goal Group D match at the World Cup 2026, turning what had looked like a routine American response into a collapse that stretched across the final minutes.
The United States led twice and still finished empty-handed. Auston Trusty opened the scoring in the 3rd minute and Sebastian Berhalter restored the lead in the 49th, but Türkiye answered each time with a sharp, organized push: Arda Güler equalized in the 10th minute, Barış Yılmaz put Türkiye ahead in the 31st, and Ayhan completed the comeback after the Americans failed to settle the match late on. The decisive sequence was not a single mistake so much as a breakdown in control, with the U.S. unable to manage the game after giving up possession and rhythm in the closing stretch.
The result came against a heavily rotated American side. With the United States already through as Group D leader, the lineup featured nine changes from the team that had secured qualification, a choice that tested depth but also disrupted continuity at a moment when the match demanded clarity and structure. Türkiye, meanwhile, played with the urgency of a team trying to close its campaign on a high note after already being eliminated.
For Türkiye, the victory carried the weight of a long-awaited return to the World Cup stage. Vincenzo Montella’s team had ended a 24-year absence from the finals, and captain Hakan Çalhanoğlu helped anchor a side that kept pressing after each setback. The comeback in Los Ángeles fit the shape of Türkiye’s tournament: resilient, dangerous in transition, and capable of punishing hesitation deep into stoppage time.
The loss did not erase all of the Americans’ attacking progress. FIFA noted that the United States finished the tournament with eight goals, the program’s best scoring return at a World Cup, surpassing the seven it had posted in 1930 and 2002. But the final against Türkiye showed the other side of the ledger as well: a team with enough talent to score, but not enough discipline to see out a result when the match tightened under pressure.
This article was produced by Prism’s automated news system from verified source data, official records, and press releases, then run through automated quality and moderation checks before publishing. The system is built and supervised by the people who set the standards it runs under. Read our full AI policy.
Did this article answer your question?
.jpg&w=1920&q=75)
