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Shafaq News<\/p>\n
The World Cup Round of 32 continues on Thursday, July
\n2 Baghdad time, with the United States facing Bosnia and Herzegovina before
\nSpain meet Austria.<\/p>\n
The US play Bosnia and Herzegovina at 03:00 at San
\nFrancisco Bay Area Stadium in Santa Clara. Spain face Austria at 22:00 at Los
\nAngeles Stadium.<\/p>\n
The winner of United States vs Bosnia and Herzegovina
\nwill face Belgium or Senegal in the Round of 16. Spain or Austria will meet
\nPortugal or Croatia.<\/p>\n
United States vs Bosnia and Herzegovina<\/p>\n
The United States enter the knockout stage as Group D
\nwinners and home favorites, but recent upsets have sharpened the warning signs.<\/p>\n
Mauricio Pochettino\u2019s side won their first two group
\nmatches to secure early qualification before losing a dead rubber against
\nTurkiye.<\/p>\n
US captain Tim Ream said Bosnia are \u201cin the tournament
\nfor a reason\u201d and warned that one set-piece mistake can decide a knockout
\nmatch.<\/p>\n
The Americans will rely on Christian Pulisic, Folarin
\nBalogun, Gio Reyna, and Weston McKennie to break down a Bosnian side expected
\nto defend compactly and counter.<\/p>\n
Bosnia reached the knockouts for the first time after
\nfinishing third in Group B, drawing with Canada, losing to Switzerland, then
\nbeating Qatar. The Dragons are led by 40-year-old captain Edin Dzeko, their
\nall-time top scorer, with Ermedin Demirovic and Kerim Alajbegovic adding threat
\nin attack.<\/p>\n
Goalkeeper Nikola Vasilj is another key figure,
\nespecially if the match reaches penalties.<\/p>\n
History favors the US, who are unbeaten in four
\nmeetings with Bosnia and Herzegovina, including a 1-0 win in their last clash
\nin 2021.<\/p>\n
Spain vs Austria<\/p>\n
Spain enter their match against Austria with one of
\nthe strongest records in the tournament: 34 matches unbeaten and no goals
\nconceded in 429 World Cup minutes.<\/p>\n
Luis de la Fuente\u2019s side topped Group H with seven
\npoints, but their 0-0 draw with Cape Verde showed the old problem remains:
\nturning possession into goals against deep defenses.<\/p>\n
Spain had 74% possession and 27 shots in that match
\nbut could not score, reviving memories of their 2022 penalty exit against
\nMorocco after another goalless draw. De la Fuente declared that Spain remain
\n\u201cvery strong\u201d defensively but need more ball speed and fluidity.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Austria, coached by Ralf Rangnick, are
\nplaying their first World Cup knockout match in 44 years after finishing second
\nin Group J. His side are expected to defend compactly, but Austria\u2019s pressing
\nstructure and physical edge could make the match uncomfortable if Spain move
\nthe ball too slowly.<\/p>\n
Spain\u2019s midfield remains their main strength, with
\nPedri, Fabian Ruiz, Dani Olmo, Mikel Merino, and Martin Zubimendi giving De la
\nFuente several options, although injuries to Nico Williams and Yeremy Pino have
\ncomplicated Spain\u2019s wide options, making Lamine Yamal and the midfield runners
\neven more important.<\/p>\n
The match will be played at Los Angeles Stadium, one
\nof the tournament\u2019s major venues and the site of a later quarterfinal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"2026-07-01T10:01:06+00:00 font Enable Reading Mode A- A A+ Shafaq News The World Cup Round of 32 continues on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":48514,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[5005,29,17,21479],"class_list":["post-48513","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-spain","tag-2026-world-cup","tag-breaking","tag-spain","tag-world-cup-2026-july-2-preview-spain-try-restoring-legacy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48513","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48513"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48513\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48514"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48513"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48513"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48513"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}