While Malik Tillman was unsure of what to expect from the United States’ last-32 clash with Bosnia and Herzegovina, he certainly must have assumed he would finish the game with his boots intact.
Tillman has been one of the US’s most important players in their run to the last 16, a vital part of their build-up and a tricky technician for opponents to contend with when he’s maneuvering through the final third. While everyone else waited to learn whether or not Folarin Balogun would be sent off during the second half of Wednesday’s 2-0 victory, Tillman noticed some discomfort with his right boot. There was a good reason: the top of it had been ripped after a stomp from an opponent.
At the ensuing hydration break, the US’s equipment manager, Kyle Robertson, sprinted to the locker room to retrieve a fresh pair of boots for the attacking midfielder. Rather than put on both, Tillman simply swapped out his right, playing on with a blood-stained sock underneath.
Fifteen minutes later, his new equipment made its mark. Playing down a man after Balogun’s red card, the US won a free kick just beyond the edge of the box. After consulting with Antonee Robinson, Tillman hit a pearl of a free kick over the Bosnian wall and into the net. The goal all but sealed the match.
“We’d been going through all the ways we could possibly take this free kick,” Tillman said after the win. “We talked about going under the wall, we talked about going keeper-side, we talked about going over the wall. Now I know some guys doubted me to go over the wall, but I practiced this in training, and I’m happy with it.”
Tillman has worked hard to forge a place in Mauricio Pochettino’s team. After making his debut midway through 2022, Tillman was among the toughest cuts from Gregg Berhalter’s squad for that year’s World Cup. The next few years saw him often called into camp, but seldom given starts with Berhalter’s A-team.
Tillman finally got his opportunity last summer as one of the few European-based US players who made themselves available for the Gold Cup. Throughout that tournament, Tillman was Pochettino’s primary playmaker. In the quarter-final against Costa Rica, he failed to convert a first-half penalty but sunk his second chance against Keylor Navas in the shootout. Performances like those affirmed his big-game bona fides and made it difficult for Pochettino to leave him on the bench.
“He’s been playing so well,” captain Tim Ream said after Wednesday’s win. “I’d argue he’s, other than Balo’s goals, been one of our best players. Everywhere on the field, doing the dirty things, but then making hard things look easy. He just wanted to feel like he had a place, and he’s a quiet kid, but he’s just come on in leaps and bounds.”
Tillman’s technique on his free-kick goal against Bosnia was sublime. He took five paces back from the ball, then one step forwards to set up his stride. His strike put the necessary and difficult spin on the ball, looping it just over the head of the wall’s tallest member, Stjepan Radeljić, and back down under the crossbar.
Tillman became just the second player in USMNT history to score from a direct free-kick at a World Cup. The first came from Eric Wynalda in 1994, who famously exploited the unusual air currents at the Silverdome. The open-air stadium in Santa Clara offered no such help, but both goals were met with similar rapture from US fans.
“It was amazing,” Pochettino said after the match. “I think Malik is an amazing player, full of talent. We knew that he had that talent [on free kicks] to do what he did. I am so happy for him. It was a tough season for him at Leverkusen but I think now he is enjoying, we are enjoying, and the fans are enjoying his play.”
Tillman’s set-pieces won’t be underestimated moving forward, with Belgium the next opponent who will have to deal with them. With Balogun suspended for the last 16, threats like Tillman will be paramount if the US are to reach their first World Cup quarter-final since 2002.
There’s a happy ending for the busted boot, too. Before the US boarded their bus, the shoe had already begun its journey to the Fifa museum. Tillman will surely find a special place for the one that sealed Wednesday’s game too.
