Balogun strikes then sees red as USA beat Bosnia to reach the last 16

Folarin Balogun gave the United States the lead and then handed Bosnia and Herzegovina a way back into the game, all in the space of 19 minutes. It did not matter. The hosts held their nerve with ten men, Malik Tillman curled in a second, and a 2-0 win at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara carried Mauricio Pochettino’s side into the last 16 of their home World Cup.

Balogun’s night of two halves

Balogun had already had one goal chalked off for offside before he finally beat the Bosnia goalkeeper on the stroke of half-time, pouncing on hesitation in the visitors’ box to slot home in the 45th minute. It was his third goal of the tournament, making him the USA’s leading scorer at the World Cup.

The celebration did not last. As the two challenged for a loose ball, Balogun dragged his studs down the back of Tarik Muharemovic’s leg and onto his ankle. Referee Raphael Claus was sent to the pitchside monitor by VAR and, after the review, produced a red card in the 64th minute. Replays suggested the contact was accidental and the decision drew criticism, but the card stood. The striker who had put the USA in front was gone, and Pochettino’s team faced the last half-hour a man down.

Ten men, and Tillman’s free-kick

Bosnia pushed for an equaliser, but the opening they needed never came. Instead the USA found the goal that settled it. Tillman stood over a free-kick in the 82nd minute and curled it over the wall and beyond the goalkeeper, a finish that turned a nervous lead into a comfortable one and let the home crowd breathe.

Christian Pulisic, who has driven so much of the American attack through the group stage, summed up the shift the team had made. “This is what it takes to be a really strong team,” he said. Pochettino, asked about the dismissal that shaped the second half, was blunter: “For me? Never a red card.”

A knockout win two decades in the making

The result carries more weight than a single round. It was only the second time the United States men have won a World Cup knockout match, the first since the 2002 victory over Mexico, and it ended a run of ten games without a win against European opposition.

The reward is a last-16 meeting with Belgium in Seattle on Monday. The USA will have to find a way through without their leading scorer, as Balogun’s red card brings an automatic suspension. Pochettino has leaned on the depth of his squad all summer, and he will need it again against a Belgium side that came through its own dramatic night in the last 32.

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