US World Cup Player Ratings: Trusty and Berhalter Shine

Matt Turner’s unexpected return to the World Cup spotlight did not bring the redemption he needed. Handed the gloves ahead of Matt Freese, he faced three efforts on target and picked the ball out of his net three times. His case to be the long-term No. 1, already flickering, dimmed further. He did read danger well off his line on a couple of sweeping interventions, and there is real significance in joining the small club of US goalkeepers to start at multiple World Cups. But on a day when he needed saves, he didn’t find any. Rating: 4.

Joe Scally offered a very different profile to Sergiño Dest or Alex Freeman, more conservative, more rooted to his flank. The game raced around him at times. On Turkey’s second goal he was dragged out of position twice in the same move, and when the US tried to hit back, his delivery from wide areas rarely troubled the defense. Crosses drifted into safe zones, not danger zones. Rating: 5.

Mark McKenzie never really imposed himself. Turkey sliced through him too easily on their opener, and his long passing — usually a strength — misfired, turning promising switches into cheap turnovers. He did think he had made amends with a classic poacher’s finish from a corner, only to see the flag go up. On the ball, he tried to steer play into midfield, but with the full-backs tasked with pushing progression, his influence stayed muted. Rating: 5.

Alongside him, Miles Robinson looked jittery early. Every time the ball rolled near his patch in the opening 20 minutes, there was a sense of unease. Once he settled, he found a rhythm, yet the numbers told an uncomfortable story: he led the team in “phases lost,” by both errant passes and hesitation in possession. Those small moments of indecision added up, feeding Turkey’s confidence. Rating: 5.

Auston Trusty, again asked to moonlight as a wing-back or orthodox full-back, still looked like a center-back operating in borrowed clothes. But he made those clothes work when it mattered. From a corner, he rose with conviction and buried the opening goal, a thumping header that briefly tilted the match in the US’s favor. Throughout, he gave his midfield an extra passing outlet, stepping up bravely and then hustling back to choke off Turkey’s joy down their right. His afternoon ended sourly, hobbling off with what appeared to be a left ankle problem. Until then, he had been one of the few clear positives. Rating: 7.

Sebastian Berhalter was the heartbeat. The defensive side of his game creaked at times, with a few missed assignments that will irritate the analysts, but his attacking contribution overshadowed those lapses. His dead-ball quality is a big reason he made this squad, and he justified Mauricio Pochettino’s faith by whipping in the corner that Trusty converted. His own strike was even better — another crisp, controlled finish from the edge of the box, the latest entry in a growing highlight reel from that range. On top of the goals, he was by far the team’s most progressive passer, constantly looking to punch the ball forward rather than play safe. Rating: 8.

With Cristian Roldan injured, the armband passed to Weston McKennie, and he embraced the responsibility without quite hitting his usual all-action heights. He kept the temperature up when the game turned scrappy, barking, cajoling, nudging teammates into tackles and runs. On the ball, he managed to fashion a few shooting chances for himself but only worked the goalkeeper once. It was a captain’s shift in spirit if not in headline moments. Rating: 7.

Gio Reyna’s afternoon told its own story about his current club situation. He is simply not used to playing long stretches. Early on he drifted intelligently, always showing, always available, knitting together short passes and offering a safe outlet. Yet he rarely chose the killer option. Instead of threading lines and breaking Turkey apart, he circled the ball back into traffic. He still produced the second-most box-entry passes on the team, behind only Berhalter, but the sense lingered that there was another gear he never quite found. Rating: 5.

Tim Weah, shifted again to his weaker side, remains Pochettino’s experiment in inversion. The coach points to Weah’s “dominant eye” as justification, but the evidence on the pitch did not support the theory here. Too many passes went astray. First touches bounced loose. Dribbles that usually carry menace fizzled out against the first defender. For such an experienced figure in this group, it was a strangely ragged display. Rating: 5.

Brenden Aaronson, making his first World Cup start, delivered the kind of shift Leeds fans know by heart: relentless running, constant pressing, endless sprints into space. He tried to stretch the field to the right, to pry open seams for others. The key moment came when the ball dropped kindly and the net gaped. He couldn’t convert. That miss, unobstructed and begging to be buried, will stay with him longer than any of the miles he logged. Rating: 5.

Up front, Ricardo Pepi spent the afternoon wrestling with Turkey’s center-backs in all the wrong areas. His movement dragged them deeper and wider, doing the dirty work a modern No. 9 must embrace, but the reward never came. Touches in the box were scarce, service inconsistent, and when his one real shooting chance arrived, he lashed it off target. For a forward heavily linked with a big-money move to Fulham, this was not the audition he or his suitors wanted. Rating: 5.

On a day when Berhalter and Trusty tried to drag the US forward, too many of their teammates played like a side still searching for its true World Cup identity.