US beats Bosnia-Herzegovina, advances to round of 16

SANTA CLARA, California — Folarin Balogun scored his third goal of the World Cup before being sent off with a red card within the second half, and Malik Tillman converted on a free kick to provide the 10-man United States squad a 2-0 win over Bosnia-Herzegovina on Wednesday night to advance to the round of 16.

Balogun dominated the primary half together with his goal and several other other possibilities that helped the U.S. control the match early however the Americans needed to scramble down a person after his foul against Tarik Muharemovic within the sixty fourth minute.

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Tillman helped seal the win when he scored on a free kick from just outside the box within the 82nd minute with a shot off the hand of goalkeeper Nikola Vasilj.

That gave the U.S. just its second World Cup knockout round win. The Americans made it to the semifinals in the primary tournament in 1930 by winning their group and won a round of 16 matchup against Mexico in 2002.

The win over Bosnia within the round of 32 on this yr’s expanded tournament sets up a matchup on Monday in Seattle against Belgium because the U.S. hopes to make a deep run on home soil.

United States’ Malik Tillman (17) celebrates with teammates after scoring on a free kick in the course of the Fifa World Cup round of 32 soccer match between the USA and Bosnia in Santa Clara, Calif., near San Francisco, Wednesday, July 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)

The sport was played lower than 20 miles from the positioning of the primary U.S. knockout round game of the fashionable era when the Americans lost 1-0 to heavily favored Brazil at Stanford Stadium in 1994.

The U.S. was favored this time around for the primary time on record in a knockout round match and didn’t let down the big contingent of red-white-and-blue clad fans at Levi’s Stadium who were chanting “U-S-A! U-S-A!” within the closing minutes.

The win snapped a 10-game losing streak for the U.S. against European teams dating to a tie against England within the 2022 World Cup. It marked the primary win within the World Cup for the Americans against a European team since a win over Portugal within the 2002 opener. They were winless in 13 straight World Cup matchups against European teams since then, including a 2-1 loss in overtime to Belgium within the round of 16 in 2014.

The U.S. had began fast within the group stage matches by scoring in the primary quarter-hour of all three games. Nevertheless it was Bosnia that had the higher possibilities early with Matt Freese needing to make two saves early to stop Ermedin Demirovic following a deceptive goal kick that caught the U.S. defense napping and nevertheless on the following corner kick that Kerim Alajbegovic almost scored on directly.

Balogun then took over from there, having one apparent goal called off for offside, being knocked down within the box on two other opportunities after which finally delivering within the forty fifth minute. Tim Ream intercepted a Bosnia goal kick at midfield after which Malik Tillman found Balogun within the box. He slid the left-footed shot in for his third goal of the tournament — one shy of the record for a U.S. men’s player in a single World Cup set in 1930 by Bert Patenaude.

He punctuated it together with his version of the LeBron James Silencer celebration, drawing a positive response from King James himself.

Balogun nearly scored again in stoppage time but his shot from in close deflected off the cross bar and out of play.

Bosnia’s second World Cup trip was successful with a draw against Canada within the opener and a win over Qatar that helped the team advance to the knockout round for the primary time.