U.s. Men Piling Up Historic Moments At World Cup, But Focus Is On The Here And Now

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Mauricio Pochettino’s squad continues to do things successful this summer’s World Cup that nary U.S. squad has ever done before.

Its 3 wins are nan astir successful a azygous tournament. So are nan 10 goals successful 4 games. It has nan champion extremity differential ever and its 2 shutouts ties a record.

Yet each that intends perfectly thing to nan players.

“They’re awesome milestones,” skipper Tim Ream said. “But I don’t deliberation anybody’s moreover erstwhile mentioned nan different things that we’re doing. We’re focused connected what we’re doing regular connected nan training ground, because that puts america successful nan champion imaginable position to to put these performances.

“So yeah, not alert aliases moreover worried astir records that we’re breaking.”

Well, isolated from for possibly one.

With Wednesday’s gritty 2-0 complete Bosnia and Herzegovina, a crippled nan U.S. vanished pinch conscionable 10 men, nan Americans won a crippled successful nan World Cup knockout shape for conscionable nan 2nd time. That sends them connected to a round-of-16 gathering pinch Belgium connected Monday successful Seattle wherever a triumph would beryllium — you guessed it — historic.

“It’s cool and it’s awesome and it’s an accomplishment,” midfielder Weston McKennie said of nan records. “But astatine nan aforesaid time, we person precocious expectations for ourselves. That’s what we expect of ourselves, what we expect of our team.

“We conscionable want to attraction connected Belgium now and proceed to effort to make history.”

That chore sewage a bully woody much difficult because of an unwanted squad grounds that was besides group Wednesday. When Folarin Balogun scored a extremity precocious successful nan first half past drew a reddish card early successful nan second, he became nan first American — and 3rd subordinate ever — to get 1 of each successful nan aforesaid World Cup knockout game.

“Cool record,” defender Chris Richards said.

But while nan goal, Balogun’s 3rd of nan tournament, proved to beryllium each nan U.S. needed to hit Bosnia, nan reddish paper — which cannot beryllium appealed according to U.S. Soccer — intends he’s suspended for nan crippled pinch Belgium.

“It’s conscionable truthful unfortunate, honestly,” Christian Pulisic said. “Looking backmost astatine it, it seems truthful harsh. I conscionable told him he’s done truthful overmuch for us, and now we’ve sewage his back.”

The reddish paper came successful nan 64th infinitesimal pinch nan U.S. protecting a 1-0 lead built connected Balogun’s extremity conscionable earlier nan intermission. The American striker was battling hulking Bosnia defender Tarik Muharemovic for a loose shot erstwhile he inadvertently raked Muharemovic’s correct calf pinch his studs up, past landed connected his ankle, twisting it awkwardly.

Brazilian referee Raphael Claus did not flash either paper earlier stopping play astatine nan behest of nan video adjunct referee. But aft consulting a slow-motion reply, Claus gave Balogun a reddish paper for a vulnerable challenge.

“For me, ne'er is this a reddish card,” said Pochettino, now nan winningest U.S. coach successful World Cup history. “Watching aft connected TV, ne'er was [it his] volition to measurement up connected nan player. That was a normal action successful football.”

Maybe. But Claus sent Balogun disconnected conscionable nan same, leaving nan U.S. to protect a one-goal advantage for nan last 30 minutes while playing a man down. It was astir apt nan sternest trial nan Americans person faced successful nan tournament.

“It would beryllium easy to person an excuse if they did score,” McKennie said. “But that’s not nan type of squad we are.”

For Ream, nan situation was really nary situation astatine all.

“Would it beryllium weird if I downplayed this and said [I] wasn’t moreover fazed by it?” he said. “It didn’t consciousness for illustration we were down a man. We were still capable to carve retired chances and we were still capable to support clasp of nan ball. Everybody knew their roles.

“It felt really calm and felt really, really easy and elemental for america successful that moment.”

And that allowed different leader to motion disconnected nan symptom of his ain wounds and measurement up big.

Early successful nan 2nd half a Bosnian subordinate stomped connected Malik Tillman, shredding his footwear and cutting his correct ft (but not drafting a reddish card). During nan hydration break, Tillman was capable to alteration shoes and successful nan 82nd minute, his achromatic sock turning reddish pinch blood, he recovered himself opinionated complete a free footwear conscionable extracurricular nan Bosnian punishment area.

“I’ve been dreaming astir this game. I’ve been dreaming about, yeah, possibly taking a free footwear and scoring,” said Tillman, who bent nan shot disconnected nan gloved correct manus of Bosnian keeper Nikola Vasilj and into nan nett for his first World Cup goal. “I trained for this successful our practices and past it really came true.”

So did nan team’s dreams of reaching nan information of 16, only now they’re arriving without their starring scorer, who will person to watch nan Belgium crippled from nan stands. Balogun’s absence, however, creates opportunity for others, pinch Haji Wright and Ricardo Pepi nan astir apt candidates to return his place.

And if this U.S. squad has proven anything, it’s proven that it loves thing much than embracing opportunities to beryllium group wrong.

“We’re going to miss him for nan adjacent crippled but we cognize that if it’s Pepi aliases Haji, whoever, is going to measurement up adjacent and they’re going to do nan occupation conscionable arsenic good arsenic he did,” Richards said of Balogun. “One point astir this squad is we’re really a large family and we’re shown it this full tournament.

“Coming in, location was a batch of mobility marks astir our full squad successful general. Game by crippled we started to put ourselves right. Because we knew we had it nan full time.”