Which USA Players Should Feature In World Cup Group Stage Finale?

The United States national team will have the rare opportunity to play a World Cup game with nothing on the line for either team. Mauricio Pochettino’s team has already secured winning Group D while its opponents, Türkiye, have already been eliminated and will leave the tournament following the game.

There are a lot of factors Pochettino will want to consider when putting together his lineup for this game. Which players need rest? Which players need to play? 

To state the obvious, there are four players who started the first two games and are on yellow cards: Tyler Adams, Chris Richards, Antonee "Jedi" Robinson, and Folarin Balogun. These players shouldn't play against Türkiye and risk being ineligible for the critical knockout game in the round of 32. 

Here is a look at who should enter the starting lineup, who should remain in the starting lineup, who should sub into the game, and the tactics that should be used:

The tactics Pochettino has been using have evolved over the past year and much of it has centered on a mostly consistent lineup in the backline with Tim Ream, Alex Freeman, and Richards playing most games. 

With a heavily rotated squad, Pochettino might opt to keep things simpler. On top of that, the U.S. team is limited in central midfield with Adams needing to sit and Roldan’s health questionable. 

Pochettino can be difficult to predict in situations such as this (as few saw Ricardo Pepi and Balogun starting together against Australia), but a 3-4-3 formation makes the most sense given the players he has at his disposal. 

It is unknown how Türkiye will play in this game. When a team that is predicted to go far suffers an early elimination before its final game, it can go a number of different ways. Some teams