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By Tyler Erzberger
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The USA were a few seconds away from an unbeaten group stage record, but that ended with a late goal by Turkey to take out a mostly rotated American squad that had already clinched first in Group D.
From beginning to end, it has been the most action-packed group stage in U.S. Men's National Team history, scoring eight goals and showcasing a level of consistent attack that we've never seen before from them at the World Cup.
But did that last second loss hurt their final grade?
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Let's get into it.
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Expectation
Although the lead-up to the World Cup wasn't the smoothest, I was still bullish on the team entering the tournament. With an offense that can give any team at the tournament trouble, I had them as favorites going against Paraguay and Australia. For Turkey, though, who possessed higher quality attacking talent in the form of Arda Guler and Kenan Yildiz, it was going to be difficult, especially if their suspect defense continued to look sluggish.
Overall, though, my expectations for the USMNT were to get results against Australia and Paraguay with the top of the group decided with the contest against Turkey.
Reality
The attack lived up to its billing, scoring eight goals in three games and leaving several on the table with some big missed chances. The Americans beat up Paraguay and then soundly beat Australia before getting to rest all of their starters except Weston McKennie against Turkey, having already won the group.
While the Turkey game didn't mean anything in terms of standing, it did show the lack of elite depth the USMNT have, especially in the backline. Guler, at his caliber, made a fool of the USMNT defense the entire night and nutmegged Christian Pulisic on the final attack that got them the win in the dying seconds.
The USMNT only played their true best lineup for 45 minutes against Paraguay when Pulisic went off with an injury, and they outscored them 3-0. I can't give them a perfect grade since they couldn't see out an extremely winnable Turkey game even with their backups, but they surely exceeded expectations when the stakes were highest.
Final Grade: A-
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