The United States national team has grown tired of hearing about its traditional shortcomings in World Cup knockout matches.
The Americans will look to change that narrative on Wednesday as they attempt to win their first World Cup elimination game in 24 years when they face Bosnia-Herzegovina in the round of 32 in Santa Clara, California.
The Americans last, and only, knockout win came on June 17, 2002, when they defeated Mexico 2-0 in the round of
16 in South Korea.
The good news for the Americans is they should have a healthy Christian Pulisic after the star missed the second game with a calf injury and played only 33 minutes as a sub in the final group match against Turkey.
“I feel good and ready to go for tomorrow,” Pulisic said.
The U.S. will once again play a knockout round match at a home World Cup in the San Francisco Bay area. The 1994 team made it out of group stage and faced Brazil at Stanford Stadium — less than 15 miles away from the site of this year’s game in Santa Clara — only to lose 1-0 to the eventual champions.
Since that round of 16 win over Mexico in 2002, the U.S. is 0-3 at that stage but are favored to advance against Bosnia, according to oddsmakers.
“We understand what it means, you win or you go home. There definitely needs to be a lot of focus and attention detail this week,” Pulisic said. “But I think the vibe feels good. We’ve still kept it light and we still are going to be ready to battle once the whistle blows.”
The U.S. has one win in 21 games against European teams with seven draws and 13 losses since making it back to the World Cup in 1990 for the first time in 40 years.
England will face Congo and Belgium will play Senegal in the other elimination games on Wednesday.
The round of 32 continues on Thursday with Spain playing Austria, Portugal taking on Croatia and Switzerland facing Algeria, and then concludes on Friday with Australia up against Egypt, Cape Verde playing Argentina and Colombia facing Ghana.
The eound of 16 begins on Saturday.
— England vs. Congo, noon EDT in Atlanta (Fox/Telemundo/Peacock)
— Belgium vs. Senegal, 4 p.m. EDT in Seattle (Fox/Telemundo/Peacock)
— United States vs. Bosnia-Herzegovina, 8 p.m. EDT in Santa Clara, California (Fox/Telemundo/Peacock)
Injuries are mounting for England, which is missing its first- and second-choice right backs for the round of 32 game against Congo.
Reece James is out with a hamstring injury and backup Jarrell Quansah twisted his ankle in England’s 2-0 win over Panama on Saturday.
It could see Djed Spence move over from the left to cover, but coach Thomas Tuchel is confident James and Quansah will both soon return — so long as England can advance beyond Congo.
“They’re getting closer and closer,” Tuchel said. “The race was close even to make it into my squad this time. So we need to make sure that we have more matches. That is the main focus, and then that will be very soon.”
Congo is playing in the knockout round of the World Cup for the first time. It already held Portugal to a 1-1 draw in the group stage and beat Uzbekistan to advance.
“It is true we are looking at a difficult match, but in no way insurmountable. We have proven this against teams that were supposed to be superior to us, that we could actually put in a good performance,” Congo coach Sébastien Desabre said. “So we are focusing on our strengths, we are walking our path and once you get to this point in the competition, it’s difficult for everyone.”
Bukayo Saka, who came into the tournament carrying an injury, is fit to start, Tuchel said.
U.S. coach Mauricio Pochettino opened his news conference on Tuesday by asking the media to forgive him for his curt tone following the U.S. team’s 3-2 loss to Turkey.
The loss came after the U.S. had clinched the top spot in the group.
“I want to apologize to the guys that were in my last press conference,” Pochettino said. “I was so frustrated. I was disappointed. I thank you and am sorry. It was my problem, not your problem. I was upset after the defeat.”
Pochettino called out the media in the post-match news conference last week for not praising him and his team for having already won the group before the loss to Turkey.
“For you not say congratulations that we won the group, that is a little bit sad,” Pochettino told reporters after the game.
By advancing to the knockout round atop Group G, Belgium has already improved upon its woeful performance at the World Cup four years ago.
After a historic third-place finish at the 2018 World Cup in Russia, Belgium did not advance past the group stage in Qatar. With its 5-1 victory over New Zealand on Friday night, Belgium has already achieved what coach Rudi Garcia expected at the bare minimum from his team.
Ahead of Wednesday’s knockout round match against Senegal, Garcia expressed satisfaction, as well as desire for more. Belgium won one game and played to two draws in group play.
“We wanted to finish first in the group stage and we succeeded,” Garcia said in French. “Of course we wanted to win more — we know the story of our World Cup so far. Now it is time for the knockout phase. Senegal is a big team. But, you have to beat them, too, if you want to go far in a World Cup.”
— France forward Kylian Mbappé scores his 17th and 18th World Cup goals, one back of Lionel Messi
— Haaland scores deciding goal as Norway wins its 1st World Cup knockout game, beating Ivory Coast 2-1
— Netherlands coach Koeman resigns after penalty shootout loss marked team’s quickest World Cup exit
— Iran heads home after a heartbreaking World Cup knockout, but fans say players should be proud
— False hope and schadenfreude: Familiar feelings for Germany after another World Cup flop
— World Cup in photos, Day 20
— Prior to Monday's loss to Paraguay on penalty kicks, Germany had been 17 for 18 in World Cup shootouts and had converted 15 in a row. In the 1982 semifinals, Uli Stielike was blocked by France goalkeeper Jean-Luc Ettore with Germany’s third shot. But Germany made its next three and won 5-4. Germany was 4-for-4 in the 1986 quarterfinals against Mexico, 4-for-4 in the 1990 semifinals against England, and 4-for-4 in the 2006 quarterfinals against Argentina — winning all of those contests.
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AP Sports Writers Josh Dubow, James Dobson and Andrew Destin contributed to this report. ___
See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here
