{"id":907065,"date":"2026-07-02T08:08:20","date_gmt":"2026-07-02T08:08:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/907065\/"},"modified":"2026-07-02T08:08:20","modified_gmt":"2026-07-02T08:08:20","slug":"u-s-advances-with-thrilling-win-over-bosnia-despite-red-card","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/907065\/","title":{"rendered":"U.S. advances with thrilling win over Bosnia despite red card"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

SANTA CLARA, Calif.\u00a0\u2014\u00a0Folarin Balogun<\/a> was still learning to walk the last time the U.S. won a knockout round game in a World Cup. On Wednesday, he helped lead the Americans to another with his goal in the waning seconds of the first half, sparking a 2-0 win<\/a> over Bosnia and Herzegovina that sends the team on to the round of 16 of this summer\u2019s tournament.<\/p>\n

The other goal came from Malik Tillman in the 82nd minute. The Americans have scored multiple goals in every game of the tournament for the first time ever, also setting a national record with 10 goals overall in the tournament.<\/p>\n

The U.S. will face Belgium in the next round Monday in Seattle. Belgium advanced with a 3-2 win<\/a> over Senegal in extra time.<\/p>\n

Balogun wasn\u2019t around to see the finish though, drawing a straight red card for stomping on the right ankle of Bosnian center back Tarik Muharemovic in the 61st minute, a foul Brazilian referee Raphael Claus confirmed via a video review. That forced the Americans to see Wednesday\u2019s game out with just 10 players.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor me, never is this red card,\u201d U.S. coach Mauricio Pochettino said. \u201cWatching after on TV, never was [it] intention[al] to step up on the player. That was a normal action in football that happened by accident.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is why for me it\u2019s never a red card.\u201d<\/p>\n

Claus disagreed, which could prove costly against Belgium because the card comes with a one-game suspension the U.S. cannot appeal.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just so unfortunate, honestly,\u201d teammate Christian Pulisic said. \u201cLooking back at it, it just seems, it seems so harsh. I just told him he\u2019s done so much for us, and now we got his back. So that\u2019s it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Balogun put the U.S. in front to stay just before the intermission. The sequence started with Bosnian defender Stjepan Radeljic sliding in front of a Tillman pass, deflecting it forward toward Muharemovic. But Muharemovic got his feet crossed, allowing the ball to carom to Balogun who did the rest, sweeping the ball into the net with his left boot from about 15 feet.<\/p>\n

The goal was Balogun\u2019s third of the tournament, tying him with Landon Donovan (2010) for most by an American in a single World Cup since 1930. The lead was the Americans\u2019 first at halftime in a World Cup knockout game since 2002, when they beat Mexico in the round of 16.<\/p>\n

\"Folarin <\/p>\n

Folarin Balogun and Bosnia-Herzegovina defender Amar Dedic in action during the first half.<\/p>\n

(Robert Gauthier \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

It looked to be a precarious lead when Muharemovic crumpled to the ground with about 30 minutes in regulation time. Claus did not show a card but after the VAR official suggested he take a look at a slow-motion replay, he came away from the monitor and reached for the red, making Balogun the first American to get a red card and score a goal in the same World Cup game.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s a yellow card,\u201d midfielder Tyler Adams said. \u201cI think when you slow everything down, it\u2019s only going to look worse.\u201d<\/p>\n

A few minutes after Balogun left, the game paused for the second-half hydration break, which proved to be a lucky break for the U.S. Tillman had his right foot stomped on early in the half, ripping his boot and leaving his foot bloodied. The break came him a chance to change shoes.<\/p>\n

In the 82nd minute, he swung that new right shoe at a free kick from the top of the box, bending it off the gloved right hand of Bosnian keeper Nikola Vasilj and in the net. That brought another first, according to OptaJack, which said Tillman was the first U.S. player to score on a direct free kick in a competitive match since Jozy Altidore in 2017 Gold Cup final.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been dreaming about this game. I\u2019ve been dreaming about maybe taking a free kick and scoring a free kick,\u201d said Tillman, who practices set pieces endlessly after training sessions. \u201cAnd then it actually came true.\u201d<\/p>\n

Until Wednesday, the U.S. hadn\u2019t beaten a European team in 13 tries, a slump that included draws with Wales and England in the 2022 World Cup and six losses in as many games under Pochettino.<\/p>\n

The last UEFA country it did beat? Bosnia and Herzegovina, in December 2021.<\/p>\n

\u201cDetails decided the game,\u201d Vasilj said.<\/p>\n

After the red card \u201cwe started controlling the game,\u201d he continued \u201cand they canceled that with the second goal. We had our moments and you could feel something was coming. The only thing missing was the goal.\u201d<\/p>\n

Staff writer Mirjam Swanson contributed to this report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SANTA CLARA, Calif.\u00a0\u2014\u00a0Folarin Balogun was still learning to walk the last time the U.S. won a knockout round…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":907066,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5123],"tags":[9331,111,1582,276,8897,10713,42155,367091,2961,224,5337,133935,3007,367093,367092,1443,1439,15613,21490],"class_list":["post-907065","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-americans","tag-belgium","tag-ca","tag-california","tag-folarin-balogun","tag-foot","tag-goal","tag-knockout-round-game","tag-la","tag-los-angeles","tag-losangeles","tag-net","tag-team","tag-thrilling-win","tag-tillman","tag-tournament","tag-u-s","tag-wednesday","tag-world-cup"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/907065","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=907065"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/907065\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/907066"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=907065"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=907065"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=907065"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}