Turkey - USA ended with several Turkish players speaking more bluntly than the result usually invites. After the match, Arda Güler said, "Maçtan önce üzgün ve moralimin bozuk olduğunu söylemişsiniz... Tüm eleştiriler haklı. İyi oynamadım. Hiçbirimiz iyi oynamadık. Onlara katılmamız lazım. Ne deseler haklılar, inşallah bundan sonraki maçlarda telafi ederiz."
Arda Güler and Kaan Ayhan
Güler was not alone. Kaan Ayhan said the team was not very happy despite the emotional result because of the points they could not take in the first two matches, and he added, "En büyük eleştiriyi zaten biz yapacağız. Bundan sonra da hep biz yapacağız." He also said the side would try to prepare more strongly for upcoming important tournaments.
Salih Özcan described the win as a chance for the team to show its face after losing its first two matches. Özcan said the squad trusted itself and felt it deserved the win, adding, "Bu galibiyete mecburduk."
Orkun Kökçü and Ozan Kabak
Orkun Kökçü gave the clearest reading of the mood inside the camp. He said winning mattered because the team had honor and dignity to recover, urged everyone to do self-criticism, and said, "Bunu biz ve ülkemiz hak etmedi."
Ozan Kabak said the team had made the country very sad in the first two matches, then went into the game for victory and left everything on the field. Kabak said the group showed character and that the result should be used as a lesson rather than treated as a full reset.
The pattern across the comments was unusual for a team fresh from a win: none of the players used the result to hide the earlier losses. Instead, the players treated the match as a public correction after criticism, with Güler's line about "Tüm eleştiriler haklı" setting the tone and Ayhan's refusal to celebrate fully showing how much those first two defeats still hung over the group.
The next question for the Turkish players is not whether the criticism stops, but whether the promised response shows up in the important tournaments they say they are preparing for. Their own words leave little room for easy celebration after Turkey - USA.
