IRVINE, Calif. — It’s a whole new tournament now.
The U.S. national team has checked off boxes at the World Cup so far, topping its group and capturing the attention of the country.
But that won’t stop the Americans’ tournament from being labeled a crushing disappointment if they can’t win a knockout game for the first time since 2002 when they face Bosnia-Herzegovina on Wednesday in Santa Clara, Calif.
Traditionally the round of 16, where the U.S. lost to Ghana in 2010, Belgium in 2014 and the Netherlands in 2022, has been its stumbling point, but the round of 32, introduced for the first time this year, adds another hurdle.
Belgium, after dramatically topping Group G on Friday night, will be a potential Round of 16 opponent again, should it get past either South Korea or Senegal, but after it put forth an unconvincing group stage, the U.S. has a navigable path to the quarterfinal.
That is, if Mauricio Pochettino’s side can replicate its performance from the first two group games against better opponents under win-or-go-home pressure.
“For us, we know they’re a young, talented and technical team,” Alex Freeman said of Bosnia, which went 1-1-1 to finish third in Group B. “They’re very direct, just like us. In their past games, they’ve had talented youngsters — I’ve played with some of their players at youth level, so I know these guys are technical. They’re very aggressive as well.
“We’re going against something that’s somewhat similar to us in some ways, but also different. Maybe they’re more direct with long balls. We’ve got to go over the film and see exactly what they like to do.”
The margin for error wasn’t exactly high in the group stage, at least until the Turkey game that carried no real implications. Now, every single pass, every tackle, every movement and moment can be the difference between moving on or going home.
“We’re exactly where we expected ourselves to be, where we want to be,” captain Tim Ream said. “Now it’s, you have to play the same way as you did the first two games. Even in moments [against Turkey], you have to take that intensity and get on top of teams early and you ride that through the knockouts.”
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Midfielder Cristian Roldan said after the Turkey game he “was close” to being ready to return from a quad injury.
“I expect myself in the next couple of days to be fully fit and ready to go,” he said.
The U.S. returns to full training Sunday.