United States coach Mauricio Pochettino said he will make changes to his starting line-up for the final World Cup group stage match against Turkey on Thursday due to the risk of yellow card suspensions.
“I think it’s an easy answer for the guys that have yellow cards,” Pochettino said Wednesday during a news conference.
“I think it’s unnecessary to take a risk and then take another yellow card and be not available for the next stage.”
Co-hosts US have already booked a spot in the knock-out stage with victories against Paraguay and Australia.
But in these two matches, four players received yellow cards: Chris Richards, Folarin Balogun, Antonee Robinson and Tyler Adams. The count is reset after the group stage.
Pochettino hinted that he could also rest a player such as Malik Tillman, who is coming off a long club season with Bundesliga side Bayer Leverkusen.
Christian Pulisic is expected to be available after he sat out the Australia match due to a calf injury. But it’s still unclear whether he will start.
“We need to decide if it’s possible to play from the beginning or be on the bench and have the possibility to maybe to play in the second half,” Pochettino said.
Turkey will be playing their last match at the tournament as they have been already eliminated.
