Ten-man USA overcame Bosnia and Herzegovina at San Francisco Bay Arena Stadium to book a FIFA World Cup 2026 Round-of-16 meeting with Belgium.
Following the Red Devils’ last-gasp extra-time win over Senegal earlier in the day, the co-hosts were given a brief scare when first-half goalscorer Folarin Balogun was shown a red card for a high challenge with over an hour played.
Despite being reduced to 10 men, the Stars and Stripes sealed victory through Malik Tillman’s 82nd-minute free-kick.
Balogun had already gone close with a snapshot when he thought he had opened the scoring, only for the goal to be ruled out for an offside in the build-up.
The striker made it third time lucky on the stroke of the interval, capitalising on Tillman’s through ball taking a fortuitous double deflection before calmly slotting under the advancing Nikola Vasilj.
The crossbar then denied him a close-range second deep into first-half stoppage time.
Having been largely second best, Bosnia and Herzegovina were handed a lifeline in the 64th minute when Balogun was sent off following a VAR review for a challenge on Tarik Muharemovic.
However, the USA dug their heels in and seized their moment to make the game safe.
Tillman stepped up and sent home a free-kick just moments after Christian Pulisic had seen a goal chalked off for offside.
Mauricio Pochettino’s men will look to reach the World Cup quarter-finals for only the second time in the modern era when they take on Belgium at Seattle Stadium on July 6.
