Weirdness takes center stage at World Cup

INGLEWOOD, Calif. — Man, has it been a weird last 24 hours at the World Cup.

South Korea benches its best player vs. South Africa. Ecuador shocks the world beating Germany. The Ivory Coast played its way into the knockout stage.

And last, but certainly not least, the United States looked to make soccer history while benching several starters and sitting its best player against Turkiye Thursday at SoFi Stadium.

The Americans, who had already clinched the top spot of Group D, had never won three straight World Cup matches. But as important as that was to the overall psyche of the national team and its army of supporters coast to coast, it was more important to keep the big picture in mind, that being the knockout stage beginning next week at Levi’s Stadium against Bosnia-Herzegovina, the third-place finisher out of Group B.

So Mauricio Pochettino sat his four yellow carded players — Folarin Balogun, Tyler Adams, Antonee Robinson and Chris Richards — against the Turks to avoid risking any getting a second yellow which would have meant suspension for the round of 32. He also kept Christian Polisic on ice so as not to risk getting that left calf of his knocked by some ambitious Turkish player.

Had Pochettino done anything else, it would have been managerial malfeasance and they would have cut off his supply of Chick-Fil-A, which I guess he has grown fond of along with listening to country music. There are worse ways in which one can gentrify himself to the American way of life.

He did decide to play Pulisic, bringing him on in the 58th minute. And he did create some difficulties for the Turkish defense. But most important, he came out of the match unscathed and should be good to start next Wednesday against Bosnia-Herzegovina.

But after looking as though it was going to get out of the group stage without a loss, the Americans were beaten by a last-minute goal from Kaan Ayhan, who will be feted from Istanbul to Ankara as the Turks prevailed 3-2.

Never mind that Turkiye had yet to score a goal in this World Cup. That they pumped in three, albeit against a USA side that wasn’t running at full strength, still says something about the level of play the Turks possessed.

“We lost the game but I don’t think it was a game to lose,” said Brenden Aaronson. “We had lots of chances. We could have done better on some defensive plays but the guys out there did the best that they could. I think it showed, the hustle and the aggressiveness of the team because Turkiye is a top team. They may not have performed their best in this tournament but their quality on the pitch you can see it.

“So we’ll move on. I have full confidence so I’m not worried about it.”

Any decisions Pochettino made Thursday pales in comparison to the strange one South Korea coach Hong Myung-Bo made in sitting Son Heung-Min in the first half against South Africa Wednesday  which was indeed managerial malfeasance. LAFC fans must have been wondering what the hell was this guy thinking? Not to mention the more than 300,000 Korean-Americans who live in Southern California that were ready to spend big bucks come Sunday to watch their side face Canada at SoFi.

Instead, it’s the South Africans and their Superfan Mama Joy who will deal with the LA traffic this weekend. You won’t be able to miss her. FOX will be showing her face every three minutes or so.

And the Germans? Yes, I know they had already secured passage to the knockout phase. But that was an epic fail falling to Ecuador. Of course, that’s what makes the World Cup somewhat unique. From time to time, you get these crazy results.

For those who wager on the outcome of these matches and think they’ve got it all figured out, I say good luck to you. Better off trying to hit the Pick-6 at Colonial Downs.

You know what’s not been weird about this World Cup? The stars have shown up and delivered. Lionel Messi for Argentina. Kylian Mbappe for France. Erling Harland for Norway. Brazil’s Vinicius Junior. All are filling the net with goals and generating excitement whenever they touch the ball.

And people are paying big money to be inside the stadium when they play. As of earlier Thursday, Stubhub’s cheapest price for next week’s USA-Bosnia-Herzegovina match in Santa Clara was $2,181 for seats in the upper deck behind the goal. Bring your own telescope or watch it on the big screen at Levi’s. Seats downstairs near midfield? That’s going to run you $10,022 each. The further Team USA goes, the more you can expect to pay on the secondary markets.

If you go or decide to watch on TV, you’ll see the real Team USA. Everyone will be good to go and they’ll look to make real history. Yes, it would’ve been nice to advance to the knockout stage unscathed but you almost want to put an asterisk next to Thursday’s “L.” The likelihood of the Americans surrendering a goal that late with its regulars on the pitch seems like a long shot.

But what is encouraging was that there is some depth at Pochettino’s disposal. Sebastian Berhalter showed that with his goal and an assist and he performed extremely well in a starter’s role.

“This is a group that was ready and itching to play,” Berhalter said of the lineup that took the field. “I’m proud of the group. We knew everyone was ready to step up.

“We had some moments where it got away from us but some guys haven’t played even a minute but they stepped up and did great.”

Now it’s time to quickly turn the page and try and get things back to normal, Or as normal as you can get in this kind of setting where every move is scrutinized, both good and bad.

“I think we’re proud of the performances we put in,” Berhalter said. “The guys did well and fought. We were unfortunate to not get the result but we’ll be ready for sure.”