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Group D closes tonight at SoFi Stadium with the USMNT chasing something no American men's team has ever done. Three wins in a single World Cup. Mauricio Pochettino has the lineup decisions to balance, the yellow cards to manage, and Christian Pulisic back in the picture. South Africa wrote new history on Wednesday. Mexico did the same. Bosnia booked its first ever knockout round. Wilson Isidor reminded everyone what Haiti can do when given the stage. Inside today's edition: the full slate from Wednesday, the latest on tonight, and a Kick Into Summer that captures just how big this tournament has already become.

Mauricio Pochettino has never coached a meaningless game in his career, and he has no intention of starting Thursday night at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood. The United States clinched Group D. Türkiye is already eliminated. The result tonight changes nothing for either team in the standings. None of that matters to the man in the USMNT technical area, because the Americans have never won three games in a single World Cup, and that kind of history does not come with a gracious rain check.

The opportunity is real. The USMNT has beaten both Paraguay and Australia, and Pochettino made clear Wednesday that the sweep is the goal. He is not drawing a line between games that count and games that do not. He wants three wins, a full yellow card reset before the knockout round, and his best players healthy on the other side of tonight.

Getting there requires some navigation. Four players will sit out from the start because of yellow card accumulation: Tyler Adams, Antonee Robinson, Chris Richards, and Folarin Balogun. A second yellow tonight means a Round of 32 suspension, and Pochettino simplified the logic. He wants players who will "eat the grass" at SoFi, not players weighing each tackle against a potential ban. Christian Roldán is also a question after missing full training with a quad issue. Malik Tillman, who came through a long season at Bayer Leverkusen, may see his workload managed as well.

The brightening development is Christian Pulisic, back and available after sitting out the Australia match with a calf injury. Whether he starts or enters off the bench is still to be determined, but Pulisic said he is feeling good and wants to contribute. Players with lighter club mileage, including Sergiño Dest and Alex Freeman are positioned to feature more than they have so far.

Do not mistake the context for a soft evening. Türkiye comes in with 62 shots and no goals across two group stage matches, the most shots in World Cup history by a team that has not scored. That is not a poor team. That is a team running into cold fortune, and it arrives tonight with national pride as the only thing left to play for. Pochettino has genuine respect for what is coming, and he said so plainly Wednesday. Win this match, and the Americans carry something new to Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara on July 1: a historic three-win group stage, clean yellow card records for their key players, and almost certainly Bosnia-Herzegovina waiting in the Round of 32.

Hugo Broos has been with this South Africa team for five years, and on Wednesday in Monterrey he watched them do something no South African side had ever done. Bafana Bafana beat South Korea 1-0 to finish second in Group A and advance to the World Cup knockout round for the first time in the country's history. Three previous tournaments in 1998, 2002, and 2010 had ended at the group stage. This one will not.

Thapelo Maseko did the work in the 63rd minute. Teboho Moremi slipped him a precise ball, Maseko shifted it onto his left foot, and he drilled a low finish into the bottom right corner. South Africa held on through what Broos called twenty minutes of heart-stopping moments and walked off with one of the most important victories in the program's modern history. Their reward is a Round of 32 match against Canada on June 28 at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood.

"It was a fantastic experience," Broos said. "Tactically we were very good and it was difficult for South Korea to find space." The numbers backed him up. South Korea controlled possession but rarely created clean looks. Kim Min-jae's early header was cleared off the line by Aubrey Modiba. Lee Kang-in fired over from close range. After that, South Africa settled in, soaked up pressure, and waited for their moment. When it came, they took it.

For South Korea, the questions started before kickoff and got louder afterward. Hong Myung-bo left Son Heung-min out of the starting eleven, the first time Son has not started for the national team since he began his international career. Hong said he wanted to introduce Son when South African legs were tired and gaps were opening up. Son came on at halftime for Hwang Hee-chan, against a defense that had just been refreshed at the break, and never found his rhythm. South Korea finish third with three points and must wait until Saturday to learn whether they advance as one of the best third-placed teams.

Hong faced his press conference with no place to hide. Reporters called the result unacceptable and dismal. They called the team selection a failure. Hong, who led South Korea to their famous 2002 semifinal as a player and was at the helm for their winless 2014 campaign as a coach, took the weight. "I guess I made the wrong decisions and that was the reason we had a bad result," he said. "Nothing more, nothing less."

The other Wednesday results filled in the bracket and answered some lingering questions about who is rounding into form. Brazil topped Group C with a 3-0 win over Scotland in Miami, and Carlo Ancelotti finally got the performance he had been waiting for. Vinícius Júnior scored twice, Matheus Cunha added a third, and the structure of the match looked like a team that has decided what it wants to be. Drop deep when the moment calls for it, press high when the ball gets stuck, and punish on the counter. Ancelotti praised the team afterward in the simplest terms available, and Scotland coach Steve Clarke conceded his side handed Brazil the first two goals. The Tartan Army has likely watched its last match of this tournament, though Scotland sits in the third-place reckoning until the math is finished Saturday.

Mexico was perfect for the first time in a World Cup group stage with three wins in three matches and no goals conceded. They notched a 3-0 win over the Czech Republic at the Estadio Azteca to close it out. The first half was tight enough that the Mexico City crowd was whistling at the home side, but late goals from Mateo Chávez, Julián Quiñones, and Álvaro Fidalgo turned the night into a celebration. Javier Aguirre, 67 years old and characteristically dry about it all, has built a defensive group that has not given up a goal in three matches. Whether the Estadio Azteca crowd enjoys his methods or not, the numbers belong to him. Guillermo Ochoa came on late for his 153rd cap, and nearly a million people gathered at the Angel of Independence to celebrate in the rain.

Canada's night was less kind. Switzerland came in clinical and beat the co-hosts 2-1, sending Canada through as Group B runners-up and into a Round of 32 date with South Africa in Los Angeles instead of a home tie in Vancouver. Nathan Saliba's assist for Promise David's goal was as good a piece of build-up play as the tournament has produced so far, but the rest of the night belonged to Switzerland. Jesse Marsch had hinted that Alphonso Davies might be available. He was not.

Morocco took care of Haiti 4-2 in Atlanta to finish second in Group C, which puts them on a likely collision course with the Netherlands in the next round. Sébastien Migné's Haitian side fought beyond what most predicted from a team returning to the World Cup after a 52-year absence, taking the lead twice before the 2022 semifinalists pulled away. More on that night in just a moment. And in Group B, Bosnia and Herzegovina beat Qatar 3-1 to clinch their first knockout-stage appearance at a World Cup. They are the team almost certainly waiting for the United States on July 1 at Levi's Stadium, which means the door to the Round of 16 likely runs through a country playing the best soccer of its independent history.

Haiti had not played in a World Cup in 52 years. On Wednesday night in Atlanta, in a stadium that was nearly half blue, they took the lead twice against the African champions. The second one came from Wilson Isidor, the 25-year-old Sunderland forward, four minutes after Achraf Hakimi had equalized for Morocco. Isidor took the ball outside the box, set himself, and launched a strike into the top-left corner that Yassine Bounou could only watch. The result eventually went the wrong way, but for one moment a Caribbean nation that has waited since 1974 was ahead of a semifinalist on the biggest stage the sport offers. That is why we watch.

The group stage closes over the next three days, and what started two weeks ago as a tournament searching for its rhythm has turned into something with weight, history, and a few moments that will not be forgotten. The numbers are staggering. The storylines are stacking up. And there is still a full bracket to play.

On The Field

The final group games come fast. Paraguay faces Australia tonight at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara with a knockout-round spot on the line, and Atlanta United's Matías Galarza is in Gustavo Alfaro's likely starting eleven in midfield. Paraguay has won its only victory at this tournament against Türkiye and needs at least a draw to feel safe. Tomorrow, Ecuador and Germany meet at New Jersey Stadium in a match Sebastián Beccacece has openly framed as a referendum on his own future. Ecuador came into this World Cup on a 19-match unbeaten run and has not scored a goal in two matches.

The math for the eight best third-place finishers is still moving. Scotland sits at six in the rankings with twenty matches still to play, and Steve Clarke said publicly Wednesday that he expects his side to be passed by Saturday's deadline. Bosnia and Herzegovina is already through.

The image of the night came from Mexico City. Memo Ochoa, 40 years old, came on in the 78th minute of Mexico's 3-0 win over the Czech Republic. It was his sixth World Cup roster, a record for any Mexican player, and his fourth tournament with minutes on the field. He played the second half of his career at the Estadio Azteca for Club América. Walking back onto that field in a Mexico shirt, with the entire stadium chanting "Memo, Memo," he started the play that led to Álvaro Fidalgo's third goal. Javier Aguirre kept his words short afterward. "It was Memo Ochoa's night." Ochoa plans to retire from international duty after this World Cup. He is the oldest Mexican to ever appear in one. Cuauhtémoc Blanco held that record before Wednesday at 37.

Off The Field

The tournament's reach is matching its drama. More than 50 million people across the three host nations watched the opening weekend. The U.S. win over Paraguay drew 18 million English-language viewers, the most ever in this country. Mexico's win over South Korea pulled 14 million on Telemundo and Peacock, the most-watched Spanish-language soccer broadcast in U.S. history. In Sweden and Norway, opening matches captured 96 and 97 percent of all television viewing. China logged 192 million unique viewers across the first eleven matches.

Algeria coach Petković reportedly stepping down: Reports suggest the Swiss manager will leave his post after the World Cup regardless of where Algeria finishes, with relations between Vladimir Petković and parts of his squad described as strained.

Tunisia's mid-tournament hire leaves the door open: Hervé Renard, appointed June 16 after Sabri Lamouchi was sacked, said this week he is open to discussions about staying on but expects most parties to take stock after the group stage closes.

USA vs. Australia draws record numbers: The final viewing figure of 16,217,000 for the USA-Australia match on Fox makes it the most-watched Friday afternoon broadcast television program since a Christmas Day NFL game in 2020. It is the second most-watched English-language USMNT telecast ever, behind only the USA-Paraguay opener on June 12 (18,039,000). The most remarkable number came from Fox's Michael Mulvihill: a 90 share among men 18-34, meaning ninety percent of men in that age range watching English-language television were tuned to the Americans in Seattle.

Top markets for USA-Australia: Kansas City led the way at 9.42/41, followed by Seattle (8.26/44), Boston (7.89/34), Dallas (7.85/36), and St. Louis (7.31/30).

Mexico vs. South Korea sets a Spanish-language record: The June 18 match in Guadalajara averaged 14 million viewers across Telemundo platforms, making it the most-watched Spanish-language soccer broadcast in United States history.

Fox Sports lands Gold Cup and Nations League: Fox Sports and CONCACAF signed a new multi-year media rights agreement that makes Fox the English-language home of the Gold Cup and Nations League through 2029, covering two editions of each. CBS Sports had carried the first four Nations League finals.

NYCFC reportedly interested in Pulisic: New York City FC has expressed interest in a move for Christian Pulisic, but AC Milan has signaled the USMNT star is not available, according to sources briefed on the situation. Pulisic, 27, is under contract through next summer with a club option that runs through 2028. He has 33 goals in 87 caps and is expected to play some role against Türkiye on Thursday. NYCFC moves into a new Queens stadium in summer 2027.

Monza eyeing Inter Miami midfielder: Italian side Monza has shown interest in Yannick Bright, a 2001-born midfielder from Inter Miami. The Milan native made 14 appearances in the first half of this season and has 86 total for the club. The move would mark a return to Italy for Bright, who played 20 games for Arconatese between 2019 and 2020.

SDH AM is live at 9:05 a.m. on YouTube and Twitch. You will hear from Mauricio Pochettino ahead of tonight's USMNT match against Türkiye, and Jon Nelson sat down with Haiti's Louicius Deedson after Wednesday night's match in Atlanta. The Power Hour kicks off at 10 a.m. with Niko Moreno of Pulso Sports and Nino Torres of Fubo TV.

Atlanta Soccer Tonight goes live tonight from 8 to 10 p.m. at The Harvey in Chamblee. It is the pregame show before the USMNT closes out group play, and the cast list is stacked. Come out in person or listen on 92.9 The Game or the Audacy app.

ICYMI: Our feature on Kevin Huet of Kennesaw State University and PRO on the science behind refereeing is up on the website if you missed it yesterday. Worth your time.

FIFA and EFC strike Club World Cup joint venture: FIFA has agreed to form a joint venture with European Football Clubs to operate the Club World Cup, a partnership likely to accelerate plans for the tournament's expansion to 48 clubs in 2029. The EFC, chaired by PSG president Nasser Al-Khelaïfi, represents more than 700 European clubs and is expected to push for the current two-clubs-per-country cap to be lifted. Chelsea earned roughly £84m for winning last summer's inaugural 32-team edition.

Italy eyeing Maldini and Conte for national team overhaul: Newly-elected FIGC president Giovanni Malagò is reportedly pushing to install Paolo Maldini as technical director of the Italian national team, with Antonio Conte lined up as head coach. According to La Gazzetta dello Sport, Maldini would be offered unprecedented control over technical and youth operations under a new "Club Italia" structure. Maldini is reportedly not yet convinced about accepting the role.

Textor opens fire on Lyon ownership transition: Former Lyon owner John Textor has published a lengthy public letter on the Eagle Football website criticizing incoming owner Michele Kang as her takeover of the French club nears completion. Textor accused Kang of using company communications to damage his reputation and pushed back against being held solely responsible for Lyon's financial issues. Kang and Lyon CEO Michael Gerlinger are scheduled to address the matter at a press conference Friday.

The history this World Cup is producing belongs to whichever team decides to go take it, and the United States gets its turn tonight at SoFi.

Song of the Day: "Once in a Lifetime" by Talking Heads. David Byrne keeps asking himself how he got here, and right about now South Africa, Bosnia, Mexico, and the USMNT are all looking around the room asking some version of the same question. Some days you blink and realize you are standing somewhere you have never been before.

Jason