US coach Pochettino brushes off Turkey defeat, says winning group was main goal

INGLEWOOD, California, June 25 : The United States conceded a stoppage-time goal to lose 3-2 to Turkey on Thursday but coach Mauricio Pochettino said there was little reason for concern after his side still finished top of their World Cup group.

The U.S. will face Bosnia and Herzegovina in Santa Clara in the round of 32 on Wednesday, and Pochettino was frustrated that much of the post-match discussion centred on the defeat rather than the co-hosts achieving their main goal of winning Group D.

"At the moment no one congratulated us for finishing first in our group," Pochettino told reporters. "I congratulate the players, the staff and the fans to finish first in a very difficult group."

Turkey had already been eliminated before kickoff but the Argentine said the mood after the match was as if his team were the ones going home.

"Our objective was to finish first, and we finished first," he said. "I'm so positive and I'm happy. Your questions are a little bit weird."

Pochettino said the defeat had to be viewed in context, with the U.S. already through to the knockout stage and making wholesale changes to their starting line-up after victories over Paraguay and Australia. 

"Whenever a team has already qualified and another team has already been knocked out, so many situations come into play," he added. 

Pochettino said the performance reinforced his belief in the depth of the squad, with several players making their World Cup debuts.

"We are a much better team now than before," he said. "We qualified as number one and we went to the next round. I need to remind you that we won the group."