Kaan Ayhan scored the decisive goal for Turkey in the 98th minute against the USA during the 2026 World Cup, helping Türkiye finish the tournament with three points. The German-born defender, who previously played for Schalke, Eintracht Frankfurt and Fortuna Düsseldorf, left the Bundesliga in 2020. The current Galatasaray centre-back got on the scoresheet on his World Cup debut, ten minutes after coming on. Similarly, Hoffenheim's Ozan Kabak made his tournament debut as Vincenzo Montella made several changes to his lineup. Despite this, Eintracht Frankfurt's Can Uzun only came on as a late substitute. Salih Özcan played the entire match for a team that had already been eliminated from the tournament. Mauricio Pochettino also made nine changes to the squad that had earlier beaten Australia in the second group game. Borussia Mönchengladbach's Joe Scally and Gio Reyna, who scored in the win over Paraguay, started in the starting lineup for the first time. Bayer Leverkusen's Malik Tillman came on as a substitute, and Christian Pulisic returned to the game after an injury that ruled him out of the last match. The U.S. team will play in the round of 16 against Bosnia and Herzegovina as the leader of Group D with six points.
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