USA 2-0 Bosnia: Balogun 45, Tillman 82
USA reached the World Cup last 16 for the first time in 24 years by beating Bosnia and Herzegovina 2-0, despite a second-half red card.
Folarin Balogun gave the co-hosts a deserved lead before being sent off midway through the second half for a bad-looking foul on Tarik Muharemovic, leaving the Americans to survive sustained pressure with 10 men for nearly half an hour. Malik Tillman then settled the contest with a free-kick eight minutes from time to send a packed home crowd into raptures.
The victory was only the second World Cup knockout win for USA in the modern era and their first against European opposition at the tournament since defeating Portugal in 2002. They will now face Belgium in Seattle as they aim to reached the last eight.
The Americans did not enjoy the fast start that had marked their group-stage campaign. In all of their three previous matches they had scored inside the first 10 minutes. But here, Bosnia created the first clear openings. Matt Freese had to react sharply to deny Ermedin Demirovic before stretching to push away Kerim Alajbegovic’s ambitious corner that almost curled directly into the net.
USA gradually settled and began to control possession through Weston McKennie and Tillman, while Sergino Dest repeatedly found space down the right. Balogun looked the biggest threat throughout the opening half and thought he had broken the deadlock after 32 minutes when McKennie released him through the middle and he converted well, but the offside flag to cut short his celebrations.
The breakthrough eventually arrived on the stroke of half-time from the same man. Tim Ream stepped forward to win possession high up the pitch before the ball worked its way to Tillman, whose pass found Balogun inside the area. The Monaco striker then slid a left-footed finish beyond Nikola Vasilj for his third goal of the tournament.
Balogun almost doubled the advantage before the interval when Dest headed the ball across goal, but his close-range effort clipped the top of the crossbar.
Bosnia suffered another setback early in the second half when veteran striker Edin Dzeko was forced off through injury, but their hopes were revived moments later when, chasing a loose ball in the 64th minute, Balogun stepped on Muharemovic’s ankle after the pair collided.
It did not look intentional, but the foul still looked awful and could have caused a very serious injury. Off Balogun went and Bosnia twisted the screw, pushing higher, enjoying more possession and forcing USA deeper into their own half.
But there were far from clear openings for Bosnia and it was Pochettino’s team who instead went close after Christian Pulisic bundled the ball over the line. The offside flag intervened and Bosnia could still hope. Tillman crushed those hopes.
