​The United States advanced to the World Cup knockout round with a 2-0 victory over Bosnia and Herzegovina, marking just the second time the U.S. men’s team has reached the World Cup knockout stage. A controversial red card to Folarin Balogun in the 64th minute left the Americans with a man down for the remainder of the match and will rule him out of the round-of-16 game against Belgium on July 6. Balogun had given the U.S. a 1-0 lead in first-half stoppage time after a close call in the 31st minute that was ruled offside, and a crossbar rebound at the end of the first half nearly extended the advantage. Malik Tillman added a second goal in the 81st minute via a well-placed free kick from just outside the box.
The match took place less than 20 miles from the site of the United States’ first modern knockout-round game, a 1994 loss to Brazil at Stanford Stadium. This time, the U.S. entered a knockout-stage match as favorites and fed off a large, loyal crowd at Levi’s Stadium, who chanted “U-S-A!” in the late moments. The win ended a 10-game losing streak against European teams dating back to a 2022 England draw and was the Americans’ first World Cup victory over a European side since a 2002 opener win over Portugal. U.S. had started the group stage by scoring in the first 15 minutes of each match, but Bosnia initially carried more early threat, with Matt Freese making two early saves against Ermedin Demirovic and a sharp save on a subsequent corner by Kerim Alajbegovic.
Balogun opened the scoring with his third goal of the tournament, sliding a left-footed finish past the Bosnia keeper after Tim Ream intercepted a goal kick and found Balogun in the box. The celebration drew a supportive nod from LeBron James after Balogun’s celebratory LeBron James Silencer. Bosnia, in its second World Cup appearance, had opened with a draw against Canada and beat Qatar to reach the knockout round for the first time.