When Turkey qualified for the World Cup from UEFA’s playoff route and landed in Group D, many viewed the game against the United States clash on June 25 in Los Angeles as the marquee matchup of the section — a showdown with the potential at least to decide first place and shape the knockout bracket and the destiny of the two sides.Instead, after consecutive losses to Australia and Paraguay, Turkey’s squad heads to LA already eliminated from the tournament. That, combined with the Americans having beaten those same two opponents to secure first place with a game in hand, turned what was expected to be a decisive battle for group supremacy into a dead-rubber, a soccer term used for games without consequence.The only purpose remaining? To serve as a final reckoning for one of this World Cup’s biggest disappointments.Among those most invested were the 80 million Turks raised on memories of the country’s historic third-place finish in 2002, which was also the last time they had qualified before making it this time. And the Crescent Stars’ arrival in Los Angeles could not be more different from the way the team left Istanbul.Get free access to the most comprehensive World Cup coverage in The Athletic appWhen coach Vincenzo Montella’s squad departed for North America, the sendoff was a national event of serious significance.The team was escorted to Istanbul Airport by a convoy of Turkish-made Togg vehicles draped in flags, while traffic was halted across parts of the city and thousands lined the roads and bridges spanning the Bosphorus strait, resulting in an unmistakably patriotic spectacle, reflecting the enormous expectations surrounding Turkey’s first World Cup finals appearance in 24 years.Two defeats later, those dreams have evaporated. And no match better illustrates that collapse than Friday’s dud at SoFi Stadium, a rare World Cup game that, for just about all purposes, counts for absolutely nothing.While the co-hosting U.S. has emerged as one of the early success stories of the tournament, for Turkey, it is quite the opposite.USA's win over Australia gives fans a reason to dreamTom Bogert and Lia Griffin“If fate is not on your side, once you make a mistake, then you hit the crossbar and hit the post… we could have been more accurate, but I don’t feel in a position to hold something against the players,” Montella told reporters after the crucial 1-0 Paraguay defeat Friday in Santa Clara, Calif.“Football is not logical. We have to accept the result. That is why people dream. Not every time the team that plays better wins the game. That’s the sport we’re playing. That’s football. I don’t know what more I can add to that.”The disappointment is not merely that Turkey lost. It is how it lost.Turkey took 62 shots across the two matches. Not one resulted in a goal. That statistic encapsulates the team’s World Cup performance better than anything else: plenty of possession, flashes of quality but ultimately no end product. It is also an unwanted piece of history, the most shots by a team without scoring at a World Cup since such records started being tracked in 1966.