Wednesday marks the U.S. Men’s National Team’s first FIFA World Cup knockout game of the year as they take on Bosnia and Herzegovina at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California, in the Round of 32.
Entering the knockout stage having comfortably won their group, expectations are high surrounding Mauricio Pochettino’s USMNT. This has only been heightened given that their opponents had to get past Wales and Italy in the UEFA playoffs to merely reach the tournament, before progressing past the group stage as one of the eight best third-placed teams, having accumulated four points across three games.
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But longtime USMNT goalkeeper Kasey Keller is wary of the test this Bosnia and Herzegovina side could pose to the World Cup co-hosts, despite the wayward path they have taken to get to this point.
“I think the challenge is for the U.S. to make sure that they surpass the energy of Bosnia,” he told SportsCenter on Wednesday. “The last thing you want to do against a side that knows how to grind, that knows how to defend, that knows how to frustrate your opponent, is to get stuck letting them do that to you.
“That’s why I love what I saw from the U.S. against Paraguay in that opening game. They pressed Paraguay so much that they couldn’t even get out of their own half. So if you can do that with this Bosnian side and then frustrate them because they’re just having to defend deeper and deeper and have less and less possession, it could go a long way for the U.S.
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“But if they get frustrated, they start trying to physically battle a big, strong side and get kind of pulled into the Bosnian game, then you’ll go the way of Wales and the way of Italy.”
So far this tournament, Bosnia and Herzegovina have held co-hosts Canada to a 1-1 draw before losing 4-1 to Switzerland, before rescuing their tournament with a 3-1 win against Qatar.
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While they may not possess a star-studded lineup, they have their fair share of players used to top-tier competitions, including 12 who play in England, Italy, Germany, Spain, Portugal, or the Netherlands.
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Perhaps their best-known star is 40-year-old striker Edin Džeko, who, along with becoming his nation’s most capped player and top goalscorer, has also lifted two Premier Leagues, the Bundesliga, and two Coppa Italias among numerous other accolades during his storied career. He is yet to find the back of the net this tournament.
The team’s top scorer this summer entering Wednesday’s game is 21-year-old Ermin Mahmić, currently of Slovan Liberec, with two goals off the bench so far.
As for the USMNT, they enter the game off the back of a 3-2 group stage ending loss to Türkiye. Somewhat of a nothing game for both sides, given that the USMNT had already won the group whilst their opponents were already eliminated, Pochettino opted to make nine changes to his starting lineup, resting key starters whilst also giving valuable minutes to backups ahead of the knockout stage.
