It took blood and sweat to produce tears of joy as the short-handed U.S. men’s national team moved to the World Cup’s round of 16 with a gritty 2-0 win over Bosnia and Herzegovina on Wednesday in Santa Clara, Calif.
The USMNT’s first knockout-stage win in 24 years sets up a meeting with Belgium on Monday in Seattle with a spot in the quarterfinals on the line.
Amid the postgame jubilation was the realization that leading scorer Folarin Balogun, who popped in his third goal of the tournament in the 45th minute, will miss the next match. The forward received a red card in the 64th minute on Wednesday, leaving the U.S. scrambling to defend a 1-0 lead.
They did and more when Malik Tillman scored from a free kick in the 82nd minute to seal the win. The result ended the United States’ 10-match losing streak to European teams and also marked the first time the U.S. won three matches in the same World Cup.
Tillman paused after the match to reflect on his wonder goal but also to look ahead to Belgium.
“We have to enjoy this moment now,” he said. “(Against Belgium), we want to go as fast possible, and it won’t be an easy game, but now we will analyze them, we will analyze our game and hopefully we keep going.”
In the post-match interview room, Tillman was in his socks with blood noticeable on the right sock by the big toe. He explained that in the second half, his right boot had been cut open and that shortly before the free kick he had to change footwear.
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.
“I know some guys doubted me to go over the wall, but I practiced this in training,” Tillman said. “You never know when it’s going to happen, but luckily today it happened and now I was ready for it. I was very confident, and now I’m happy it went in.”
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. early in the second half when Balogun was issued a straight red card. When challenging for a header, his right foot landed on Muharemovic’s right ankle.
There was no foul called initially, but referee Raphael Claus reviewed the play and issued the red card.
When play resumed, the U.S. refused to back down while playing smart and composed for the most part.
“We had to dig deep for that one,” Pulisic said. “Obviously, I felt we put on such a good performance and didn’t deserve the red card. I mean, I didn’t see it, but it’s unfortunate. But for us to dig in deep like that and just to get another goal and to defend the way we did took a real team effort.”
Balogun became the first player to score and be red-carded in a World Cup knockout-phase match since France’s Zinedine Zidane tallied and was sent off in the 2006 championship match vs. Italy.
“For me, never was it a red card,” U.S. coach Mauricio Pochettino said. “… (After that,) I thought that is a moment that we need to be a team. We need to show that we are a team. I could see in the eyes of the players as a coach we are ready to go and to fight, and that’s amazing.”
–Field Level Media
