Updated July 2, 2026, 11:07 p.m. ET
The United States is back in the World Cup round of 16.
They got here by getting their first knockout win since 2002, a 2-0 victory over Bosnia and Herzegovina at Levi’s Stadium in the Bay Area on Wednesday, July 1. The USMNT was powered again by Folarin Balogun, who scored the first goal of the match, but then received a controversial red card that left the team with ten players.
USA TODAY soccer insider Jon Arnold broke down the national team’s performance on an episode of USA TODAY Sports’ “Sports Seriously” soccer podcast published after the match. One of the topics of analysis was Balogun’s red card, which he received after going up for the ball with Bosnia’s Tarik Muharemović and stepping on his ankle.
“It’s harsh, it’s a bad call. I don’t think this is a red card offense,” Arnold said. “Balogun doesn’t seem to know where he’s putting his foot. Yes, I think you probably need a yellow card, but as soon as the video assistant referee sends the center ref to the monitor, typically we see the ref trusting what the VAR has spotted, obviously have a much wider perspective, many more angles than the center ref.
“And even though they look at the play, the Brazilian referee today decides, ‘Yeah, I’m gonna agree with my video assistant. I’m gonna say this is a red card.'”
USA TODAY soccer editor Seth Vertelney was on site at Levi’s Stadium and heard from USMNT players about the referee’s decision to book their leading scorer of the tournament. With the red card, Balogun will miss the United States’ next match in the round of 16 against Belgium.
“As you would imagine, they didn’t agree with it,” Vertelney said. “Weston McKennie and Tyler Adams both spoke out about that red card and they said that they saw the replay, they didn’t think that that was intentional, and in their minds, it was a yellow card at best.”
He shared his thoughts on how the team’s mentality and synergy was on display.
“The players didn’t necessarily seem to be fazed at all by that red card and going down to ten men,” he continued. “In fact, Tim Ream said he didn’t really notice that much of a difference in terms of how the game played out with ten men versus eleven. I think that’s just a sign of how well this team is playing right now, how cohesive everything is and how they’re functioning really well as a unit.”
You can watch the full episode of “Sports Seriously” above or on USA TODAY Sports’ YouTube page and wherever you listen to podcasts (search: Sports Seriously).
Christian Pulisic’s return to starting lineup is promising for USMNT
Christian Pulisic’s first start back from injury was also addressed on the podcast. The captain hurt his calf in the United States’ World Cup opener in Paraguay. He missed the match against Australia and came off the bench in the group play finale against Turkey.
The Hershey, Pennsylvania native played 88 minutes in the knockout match against Bosnia and Herzegovina. Arnold spoke on how the play of the game didn’t favor Pulisic, but his performance was still positive.
“Wasn’t really seeing as much of the ball, the field tilt sort of seemed to have things going to the right hand side of the U.S. attack rather than the left where Pulisic was,” he explained. “When he did have the ball at his feet, he looked comfortable, he looked confident.
“And especially when the U.S. went down to ten men, having him as an outlet to keep running, the fact that he has been injured, that he missed games, and he was still running and running and running after that red card I thought really indicated that Pulisic is ready, that his calf feels fine and that he is going to continue to be a player that the U.S. is going to rely on as long as this tournament run keeps going on and probably many years beyond that.”
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