USMNT beats Bosnia for 1st WC KO win since '02
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- USMNT beat Bosnia-Herzegovina 2-0 in Santa Clara, Calif. on Wednesday night, recording just the second World Cup knockout-stage win in program history and their first since 2002.
- Folarin Balogun opened the scoring in the 45th minute — his third goal of the tournament — but was shown a straight red card after a VAR review for raking his cleats down Bosnian defender Tarik Muharemovic's leg and foot.
- Balogun becomes the fifth American red-carded at a World Cup and the first player from any country to score and be sent off in the same knockout match since France's Zinedine Zidane in the 2006 final.
- Malik Tillman sealed the victory in the 82nd minute with a free kick past the Bosnian wall, giving the U.S. a cushion while playing down a man for the final half-hour.
- The U.S. snapped a 10-game losing streak against European opposition and now faces Belgium in the round of 16 — the same opponent that eliminated them in the 2014 round of 16.
- The standard one-game red-card suspension would rule Balogun out of the Belgium match, and the U.S. is likely to appeal the decision by Brazilian referee Raphael Claus.
Why it matters: The U.S. won a rare knockout-stage match but may head into a revenge game against Belgium without tournament-leading scorer Folarin Balogun (3 goals), whose red card triggers a standard one-game suspension the U.S. plans to appeal. A successful appeal keeps their most dangerous attacker available; an unsuccessful one strips the side of its leading scorer against the team that bounced them in 2014.
