The USA will look to rediscover their early tournament form when they face Bosnia and Herzegovina in the World Cup round of 32 tonight.
Mauricio Pochettino’s men clinched qualification from Group D with wins over Australia and Paraguay before a dead-rubber defeat to Turkey last time out.
Pochettino’s side have a nice look to them, combining high intensity in midfield, flair in attack and solidity at the back.
Bosnia and Herzegovina won’t be overawed though having seen off Wales and Italy to reach the World Cup. They qualified for the knockout stages by taking four points from Group B clashes with Canada, Qatar and Switzerland.
Where to watch USA v Bosnia and Herzegovina: TV channel, live online streams
The United States versus Bosnia and Herzegovina kicks off at 1am in the early hours of Thursday morning in the UK.
You can watch it on BBC One and stream via the BBC iPlayer.
World Cup 2026: USMNT v Bosnia and Herzegovina stats
- Ermin Mahmic has scored from the bench in his two appearances at these finals and with both of his attempts
- The USA are playing a World Cup knockout match on home soil for the second time, having met Brazil in the last 16 when the USMNT were the sole hosts of the competition in 1994
- They lost 1-0 on that occasion, playing much of the second half with 10 players in Stanford, California and failing to have an attempt on target throughout
- Having beaten Paraguay 4-1 and Australia 2-0 to win their group with a game to spare, the USA have won consecutive World Cup matches for the first time since the 1930 edition
- Across their eight World Cup knockout-stage matches, the USA have lost seven times and conceded 22 goals. Their victory came against Mexico in the 2002 round of 16, winning 2-0 through goals from Brian McBride and Landon Donovan
- The Stars and Stripes are unbeaten in the three editions of this fixture (W2 D1) – all in friendlies, from 2013 to 2021 – but have won one of their last 21 World Cup meetings with European nations (D7 L13) and are winless in their last 13 such matches (D6 L7) since a 3-2 victory over Portugal in 2002
- Bosnia and Herzegovina have never kept a clean sheet in their six World Cup matches; no side has ever played more at the finals without one
- They have the tallest squad at the tournament, with an average height of 6ft 1in, and have scored three goals from corners, which is the most by a team at a single edition since England netted four by the method in 2018
- In their 3-1 win over Qatar to seal their place in the knockout stage, Bosnia and Herzegovina finished on an expected goals total of 0.68
- Esmir Bajraktarevic was born in the US in 2004 after his family emigrated, having fled the Bosnian War. The winger decided to represent his parents’ birthplace despite receiving his first international cap for USA in a 2024 friendly against Slovenia
