Few knew what to expect from the newly hatched last 32 when Fifa expanded the field for the 2026 World Cup. After Monday, we’ve gotten an answer: it resembles international knockout soccer as we’ve known it to be. Favorites (such as Germany and the Netherlands) can’t rest on their laurels. Complacent play can, and often is, punished.
The outside expectation is that the US enter Wednesday’s last-32 clash with Bosnia and Herzegovina as favorites, especially so given they will have a considerable home-field advantage at San Francisco Bay Area Stadium.
But ultimately, the last 32 is still the knockout stage, with elimination on the line.
“It’s a World Cup,” said Christian Pulisic, who was part of the team who lost in the last 16 against the Netherlands four years ago. “You’re never going to get the so-called favorite winning every single time. This is soccer. This is the way things go. You can defend all game and win in a penalty kick shootout, and that’s the beauty of the game. We have to be ready for whatever’s to come tomorrow. We don’t think it’s going to be easy by any means, so we have to put on a really high level performance.”
Bosnia and Herzegovina ground their way through Group B, drawing with co-hosts Canada in their opener and winning their final group game against Qatar. In between was a humbling defeat to Switzerland, where they held the Swiss scoreless until Johan Manzambi and Rubén Vargas catalyzed an eventual 4-1 rout.
Manzambi and Vargas are among Switzerland’s most technical players, able to pull off audacious and nifty passes and movements beyond defenders in tight parameters. Thankfully for the US, Mauricio Pochettino has plenty of beguiling lock-pickers to rely on against a low-block opponent, including Pulisic, Weston McKennie, Malik Tillman and Gio Reyna.
“There’s a lot of different ways,” said Pulisic, who added that he feels back to 100% fitness after a left calf injury forced him to miss minutes in the group stage. “I’m not going to give away our whole plan, but yeah, not just being one-dimensional, moving the ball, and trying to find ways to break through.”
The US will certainly back themselves. They barnstormed through Paraguay and Australia to win Group D in two games, were able to rest key starters against Turkey and face a side that claimed just one point from games against fellow knockout qualifiers.
Ever since this generation of players began to emerge in the wake of that 2017 defeat in Couva, where the US failed to qualify for the 2018 World Cup, they’ve spoken about wanting to show domestic fans and the world alike that American soccer can be more than industrious if unglamorous. After impressive performances in the first two games, this team have a hunger to play with similar verve in the knockouts.
“I mean, try to stick to your style, but ultimately, the team that puts in the most effort and sticks to their principles usually will win the game,” said Chris Richards. “We’re not going to go crazy if plan A doesn’t work, but we also understand that there are good teams that also deserve to be here. Mostly, we know that how we played so far throughout the tournament has been very successful, so we’re going to try to stick to that”
Part of that game model also relies on defenders keeping a stable base even as the team ahead of them evolves to unsettle an opponent.
“Everybody takes pride in clean sheets,” Richards said. “For us defenders especially, we take pride in blocking shots and heading the ball away. The guys who are in the backline, we all like to defend. I think that’s rare. I think sometimes, you see players that maybe shy away from kind of doing the dangerous stuff, but ultimately, if our goalie isn’t doing much in the back, then we’ve had a successful day. We enjoy it a lot.”
Wednesday’s game will be the defense’s first test against a team who funnel their attack to a target-man forward. The wing-back tandem of Antonee Robinson and Sergiño Dest will also have plenty to contend with from the young wing duo of Esmir Bajraktarević and Kerim Alajbegović.
The ageless Edin Džeko still leads the line for Bosnia and Herzegovina, 12 years after making his World Cup debut in Brazil. The Schalke striker played exactly 64 minutes in each of his two starts against Switzerland and Qatar, failing to score but helping mightily with his hold-up play against the latter.
At 40, Džeko may not move as quickly as before, though breakneck sprints were never his calling card. Richards won’t shy away from what could be a scrappy veteran’s shift.
“I’ve played some experienced strikers in my career,” Richards said. “He’s a guy that I think might be Bosnia’s kind of figurehead, when you think of their international soccer team. For me, it’s making sure that I don’t get kind of dragged into his games. Obviously, he’s [been] at the top level for a reason for a long time, so it’s making sure that I do what I do best, which is [to] frustrate people. Ultimately, I plan on coming out on top of that battle.”
