After a Defeat in the Final Group Stage Match, Americans Need to Come Out on the Front Foot
The knockout rounds are here, and the U.S. Men's National Team is ready to meet them, even if the weight of the moment hasn't fully landed yet.
"Would it be weird if I told you I don't really feel too much pressure at this minute?" captain Tim Ream said Monday ahead of the team's departure from Southern California for the Bay Area. "I just think there's so much pressure that we put on ourselves. It feels very different this time around than 2022."
Wednesday's Round of 32 opponent is Bosnia and Herzegovina, who punched through as one of the best third-place finishers after a 3-1 win over Qatar left them with four points. For the Dragons, it's just their second World Cup appearance; they didn't survive the group stage in Brazil in 2014. Coach Sergej Barbarez wasn't rattled by the draw, though. "We are confident enough to face anyone," he said.
The U.S. arrives as Group D winners, having dispatched Paraguay and Australia in convincing fashion before rotating heavily in a dead-rubber loss to Türkiye. That record against European opposition—no wins in 13 consecutive matches against UEFA nations—lingers in the background, the kind of statistical ghost that tends to follow a team into a knockout bracket.
Bosnia's structure figures to be compact. They attempted the third-fewest passes into opponent boxes of any advancing team across three group games, leaning on width and the aerial presence of veteran striker Edin Džeko. Gio Reyna, who played his longest stretch since December against Türkiye, is the type of puzzle-solver the U.S. will need to crack a disciplined defensive shape. Kickoff is Wednesday at Levi's Stadium.
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