1 of 5 | Defender Tim Ream, forward Folarin Balogun and the United States Men’s National Team will battle Bosnia and Herzegovina in a World Cup Round of 32 match Wednesday in Santa Clara, Calif. File Photo by Christian Brunskill/UPI | License Photo
United States Men’s National Team members “expect great things” from themselves ahead of a World Cup Round of 32 clash with Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The matchup will kick off at 8 p.m. EDT Wednesday in Santa Clara, Calif. and air on Fox. The No. 15 Americans, who went 2-1-0 to win Group D, are 1.5-goal favorites to beat the No. 61 Bosnians (1-1-1), who placed third in Group B.
“We put so much pressure on ourselves,” U.S. captain Tim Ream told reporters. “We expect great things from ourselves and good performances.
“That doesn’t change whether you are in the group stage or the knockout rounds.”
Tickets for Wednesday’s match are sold out at FIFA’s official marketplace. As of Tuesday morning, the least expensive tickets for the match were listed for about $1,200 on the secondary market.
The Americans are off to an unprecedented start, with goals in each of their first three games for the first time in World Cup history. Their eight total goals also are an American World Cup record. With another win, they would set a record for the most U.S. victories at a World Cup.
Their high goal total through three games, which tied for the fourth most among 48 group stage teams, provided an expectation for more offensive fireworks.
“We are very confident at the minute,” Ream said. “When you can score in three straight games and you’ve never done that, I think the confidence comes from the fact that goals are coming from everywhere. It’s not just the reliance on one, two or three players. It’s all over the field. You never know who is going to pop up with a goal at any given minute.
“It gives us a lot of confidence, but that confidence comes from what we’re doing on the training field and the work we are putting in daily, on off the field, to make sure those things happen and make sure the connections are strong and we are all in the right areas to put goals away when it’s needed.”
Ream said the Americans will prioritize quick ball movement against what they expect to be a physical Bosnian team playing out of a low-block. The formation stuffs defensive players into the midfield and back line to combat offensive assaults.
“I feel like there is pressure in a healthy type of way because we all have belief,” defender Sergino Dest said. “We know we can do it so we want to do it, but pressure in a negative way we don’t really feel. I don’t feel it, to speak for myself.”
Forward Folarin Balogun, who led the U.S. with two group stage goals, said “intense focus” and “intense concentration” will be key factors for the Americans to advance. A win would result in a Round of 16 meeting with No. 10 Belgium or No. 18 Senegal.
“It’s not something we are going to take lightly,” Balogun said. “We are looking forward to just going out there. We know we are going to need to be creative. We know we are going to need to be intense, like we have been so far.
“There is no doubt we can go out there and win.”
FIFA World Cup: Turkey defeats USA
Turkey’s Orkun Kokcu (C) celebrates after scoring a goal against the United States in the first half of their 2026 FIFA World Cup match in Los Angeles, on June 25, 2026. Photo by Christian Brunskill/UPI | License Photo
