A puff of the cheeks, a drop of the shoulders and a stunning dipper seal the deal. It may have been a surprise when, eight minutes and 20 yards from time,
Christian Pulisic didn’t step up to take a free-kick just outside Bosnia and Herzegovina’s penalty area.
But American midfielder Malik Tillman scoffed at such notions and, with it, assured American progress to the last 16 of the 2026 World Cup. Their World Cup.
It was their first knockout victory in 24 years and only their second in World Cup history.
And yet, five days after the last 16 tie against Belgium, a giant one.
Out of 70,000, Folarin Balogun was one of those thousands. Some were downright furious. After bouncing back to his feet following medical treatment, Mauricio Pochettino’s star striker – who scored the opening goal in the first half, his third of the tournament – was red-carded by Brazilian referee Rafael Claus for “serious foul play” midway through the second half.
Replays broadcast in super-slow motion showed Balogan scraping his foot under the calf of Bosnia defender Tarek Mohrimovic amid a tangle of legs. On the field, the official didn’t even award a free kick before the controversial VAR referral. There were no Bosnian appeals.
Sadly, this is where we are with the game. What could have been a foul on the pitch for an almost identical tackle on Lionel Messi in Argentina’s opening game against Algeria can now be upgraded to a red after a video review, even though, at first glance, it seemed at most innocuous and nothing more than a simple footballing mishmash of the legs. The knockout is the cruellest of blues for Balogan, the New York-born Londoner who has been one of the revelations of the tournament so far. He will now be suspended for Monday’s match against Belgium in Seattle, pending an appeal.
An evening in California that should have ended in unbridled happiness left a sour taste in the mouth. Balogan became the first player since Zinedine Zidane in the 2006 final to score and be sent off in a World Cup match. This decision was somewhat more ambiguous. Still, “Take Me Home, Country Roads” played at full time in this sun-drenched stadium. It was a loud finale to a high-octane occasion.
Swinging over local news stations in San Francisco on Tuesday night, this knockout match not only opened the broadcast but was also ubiquitous throughout the programme. Whether it’s team news, a clip of Pulisic and Pochettino reducing their tag as “favourites”, or watch parties along this stretch of California’s coastline, the never-ending stream of content evokes a sense of occasion in a way only Americans can.
Has any United States soccer game ever generated more anticipation? And yet, for all the hype and the constant chanting of “USA, USA”, it was Bosnia who fired the first shot in anger, within 10 minutes. Going the old-school way from behind, Edin Dzeko set up Ermedin Demirovic, who stung the palms of American keeper Matt Freiss.
At the other end, Balogun’s first look at goal was strangely timid, squandering a fine start in the penalty area, despite being so impressive in the USA’s opening two games that he is tipped for a big-money move from Monaco this summer. Moments later, American frontman Amar Dedic went down in the box under a challenge. Contact was made but the Brazilian referee waved it off. Balogun looked worried. Both you and Harry Kane, at least today.
The officials were pantomime villains again a minute later when Balogan thought he would have put the hosts ahead with a neat finish before he was rightly disallowed for being called offside. But America was probing and knocking on the door of its Eastern European adversaries. And on the stroke of half-time, they finally broke through.
Again, it was that man Balogun. Tyler Adams’ brilliant flick in midfield found Tillman, who fed Balogun from behind and after a lucky double ricochet off two helpless Bosnian defenders, it again broke onto the forward’s left foot and his shot hit the legs of Nikola Vidalj. Not the prettiest goal, but they all count. It was America’s seventh goal before halftime this World Cup, more than any other team.
Balogun celebrated with his signature ‘The Silencer’ celebration, made famous by LeBron James, who revealed this week that he was leaving the LA Lakers. Of course, it’s back to Los Angeles, where Team USA looks to advance to a potential quarterfinal against European champions Spain next Friday. Balogun should have doubled the American lead before the break, somehow cutting over the bar and above Sergino Dest’s header shortly after, with Bosnia calling for halftime.
By the second half, American prospects looked decidedly rosy for the majority of the period. The Americans have only lost one World Cup match after leading at halftime, and that was against Spain in 1950. And while Bosnia struggled to find any clear-cut chances – not least their legendary striker and captain, Dzeko, who, on his 151st cap, looked like Father Time had caught up with him at 40 – America was falling deeper.
Then came Balogun’s fateful, unexplained moment. Will the US appeal? Of course you would think. Yet inspired and saddened, he actually took America to greater heights.
Tillman’s lush up-and-down free kick – over a wall it should be considered; it didn’t bounce – ensured the American progress. Yet most disappointingly, there is a caveat to sound sense in this most optimistic and patriotic of nations. Unless sanity prevails in the coming days, there is a caveat to sound sense in this most optimistic and patriotic of nations.
