The opponent for the United States men’s national team in the opening round of the World Cup knockout stage has been finalized. They will face Bosnia-Herzegovina in Santa Clara, California, this Wednesday.
This matchup was determined after the results in Group F on Thursday, where Sweden’s 1-1 draw with Japan confirmed Bosnia’s position as the third-place team set to challenge the U.S.
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The U.S. team secured the first position in Group D with impressive consecutive wins over Paraguay and Australia, despite suffering a last-minute 3-2 defeat to Türkiye on Thursday night at SoFi Stadium.
Bosnia earned a spot as one of the top eight third-placed teams in the group stage after defeating Qatar 3-1 on Wednesday, finishing with four points. This is only Bosnia’s second World Cup appearance, the first being in 2014 in Brazil, where they did not progress past the group stage.
Following the victory, Bosnia’s coach Sergej Barbarez refrained from discussing the potential matchup with the U.S. but expressed confidence in his team’s ability to rise to the challenge on the host nation’s turf.
“Everything from here on out is a bonus for us,” said Barbarez. “We are incredibly relieved and ready to take on any opponent that comes our way. We believe we can face anyone.”
In addition to this matchup, three other round of 32 encounters have been confirmed: Canada will play South Africa, the Netherlands will face Morocco, and Brazil is set to go up against Japan.
This report includes contributions from The Associated Press.