The United States face a tough World Cup test against Turkey this summer, their final opponent in Group D of the competition.
Mauricio Pochettino’s team will play Turkey last, in Los Angeles, on June 25 after games against Paraguay and Australia on June 12 and June 19 respectively.
Turkey become USA’s highest-ranked group opponents with a current world ranking of 22. Australia are at 27th and Paraguay are 40th.
Turkey secured their spot in this summer’s tournament by beating Kosovo 1-0 on Tuesday night.
Pochettino and the USA, meanwhile, are playing in a World Cup warmup in Atlanta on Tuesday against Portugal, who are without an injured Cristiano Ronaldo.
They lost 5-2 against Belgium on Saturday and Pochettino is looking to see his side find an extra level against some of Europe’s most distinguished teams.
Christian Pulisic and USA have a tough game with Turkey to plan for at the World Cup
Mauricio Pochettino’s team also play Paraguay and Australia in their group matches
After Portugal, USA host two final warmup games against Senegal on May 31 and then Germany on June 6 before the serious business begins.
They open their tournament in LA against Paraguay before traveling up the West Cost to play Australia in Seattle. They will then return to California for the Turkey game. The team’s training base is also in Irvine, California – about 40 miles away from LA.
USA are favorites against Paraguay and Australia so in theory, they could have progress into the knockout stages secured before they face Turkey.
But if there are any errors, it’s a tough final game for Pochettino’s team to make sure they don’t face an embarrassing early exit.
Pochettino, though, is relishing the opportunity to manage the host team this summer.
Speaking after the Belgium loss, he said: ‘The potential is massive, and with the legacy of the World Cup and the way that soccer is growing here… it’s a very exciting future.
‘It’s a massive challenge. It’s a bigger challenge than we really believed or thought before starting here.’
