The United States Men’s National Team will face Bosnia-Herzegovina in this year’s expanded World Cup format, with the Knockout Stage now featuring a Round of 32.
This match comes after the team experienced a surprising result in their final match of Group D play, as Turkiye scored late to defeat them 3-2. While the USMNT was already the group winner and had qualified for the Knockout Stage, it still felt like a bit of a momentum-crushing loss.
However, USMNT coach Mauricio Pochettino has been working with his team since the stunning loss, and feels they are ready for the upcoming match against Bosnia-Herzegovina.
“I think we are very excited, and I think we are well prepared. We know very well it’s gonna be a tough game, it’s a final,” he told Fox Sports’ Jenny Taft. “We know that we need to perform, and if we want to be close to a win, we need to perform well against a team that is gonna be really tough.”
Despite losing to Australia, the USMNT had good news in that game, with the return of their star player, Christian Pulisic, to the field. Pulisic had been sidelined against Australia due to a calf injury he suffered in the USMNT’s opening group win over Paraguay.
He appears to be ready to go again for the Bosnia-Herzegovina match, but it was unclear whether he would start or come into the game later again, as he did against Turkiye.
Along with that, the USMNT didn’t play several of its key starters, including Folarin Balogun, who scored two goals in the team’s opener. Pochettino opted to keep the star players out of that game, due to it having no impact on the USMNT’s qualification or winning the group.
It also rested the key players and prevented them from getting any yellow or red cards ahead of a must-win Round of 32 game. A victory on Wednesday night for the USMNT puts them into the next round against either Senegal or Belgium.
The farthest the USMNT has ever advanced in a World Cup is the semifinals in 1930, and the quarterfinals in the modern era, during the 2002 World Cup in South Korea/Japan. Pochettino and his squad will have plenty of support with the USMNT hosting the game at San Francisco Bay Area Stadium in Santa Clara, California.