USMNT beats Bosnia for 1st WC KO win since '02
SkimNews Take
USMNT's breakthrough win comes bundled with a self-inflicted handicap: advancing removes Balogun for the very next match, turning a milestone into a pyrrhic framework against Belgium.
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- Folarin Balogun scored the 45th-minute opener — his third goal of the tournament — before being sent off just after the hour for a collision with Bosnian defender Tarik Muharemovic
- VAR review deemed the red card wrongful due to misapplied protocols; Balogun is suspended for the Belgium match and the US cannot appeal the one-game ban, per FIFA sources
- Balogun became the first player from any country to score and receive a red card in the same knockout game since France's Zinedine Zidane in the 2006 World Cup final
- Malik Tillman sealed the 2-0 with an 82nd-minute free kick — his first World Cup goal — after the US played roughly 30 minutes down a man
- The USMNT won just their second-ever World Cup knockout game and first since 2002, snapping a 10-game losing streak against European opposition
- Chris Richards framed the result as a team win: "One man's down, the next guy steps up"
Why it matters: USMNT's first knockout win since 2002 puts them in the round of 16 against Belgium — but without top scorer Folarin Balogun, who drew a red card the VAR review deemed wrongful. The US faces a 10-man disadvantage against a Belgian side that eliminated them in 2014, testing the team depth that Richards and Pulisic emphasized.
