Malik Tillman’s free-kick goal in the 82nd minute gave the short-handed U.S. men’s national team the insurance it craved to hold on for a 2-0 victory over Bosnia and Herzegovina in Santa Clara, Calif., on Wednesday and advance to the World Cup’s round of 16.
The United States earned their first knockout-round victory since 2002, but it wasn’t easy after Folarin Balogun, who scored in the 45th minute, was shown a red card in the 64th.
Matt Freese made three saves for his second shutout of the tournament to the delight of the roaring crowd.
The U.S. will play Belgium in Seattle on Monday. The Belgians pulled out a 3-2 winner over Senegal after extra time earlier Wednesday.
After a potential Christian Pulisic goal was disallowed in the 78th minute because he was offside, Tillman sent an overpowering shot up and over the wall from 21 yards to the upper left corner. The restart was set up when Sergino Dest drew a yellow card as Stjepan Radeljic grabbed his shirt.
Bosnia and Herzegovina played their first-ever World Cup knockout match.
Balogun gave the U.S. a 1-0 halftime lead with a wicked spin and shot from the top of the box. He followed a formula that worked in the first match against Paraguay when he had an early goal reversed because of an offside call before putting one on the scoreboard that stuck.
This time, he was offside in the 31st minute, but he would not be denied 14 minutes later.
The U.S. kept its defensive shape, pinning Bosnia and Herzegovina deep, resulting in a giveaway that led to the ball pinging off Bosnian defender Tarik Muharemovic.
Balogun ran onto the loose ball, stopped, turned to his left and fired in his third goal of the tournament.
A few minutes later in first-half stoppage time, Balogun pounded a shot off the crossbar from a pass by Sergino Dest.
The match took an ominous turn for the U.S. in the 64th minute when Balogun was issued a straight card when challenging for a header, his right foot landed on Muharemovic’s left ankle.
There was no foul called initially by referee Raphael Claus, but he reviewed the play and issued the red card.
Bosnian captain Edin Dzeko, 40, left in the 51st minute with a possible leg injury. At the same time, Esmir Bajraktarevic, who was born in Appleton, Wis., and played one match for the USMNT in 2024 before joining Bosnia and Herzegovina, entered.
U.S. coach Mauricio Pochettino used the same lineup that defeated Paraguay 4-1 in the opener. That meant Christian Pulisic started after a left calf injury kept him out of the second match vs. Australia and limited him to a second-half substitute appearance vs. Turkey in the Group D finale.
The U.S. did not score in the first 11 minutes for the first time in the tournament. Instead, Freese had to make back-to-back saves on Ermedin Demirovic and then Kerim Alajbegovic from a corner kick.
–Field Level Media
