1 month ago
53
Key events
85 min Dest, Freeman and McKennie combine to play some defense.
How has Mauricio Pochettino not made any subs????
84 min How has Mauricio Pochettino not made any subs???
Freese snares a high cross. USA try to break quickly.
He took forever to take that shot – some would say wasting time, but he may only have been mentally prepping himself.
We mentioned Bend It Like Beckham before? That was Beckham-esque. He got it up and down in 20 yards.
Goal! USA 2-0 BIH (Tillman 82)
A majestic free kick! It bypasses the wall, and Vasilj is all the way on the other side of the goal.
81 min One of the lightest holds we’ve seen today on Dest, but the referee decides that’s a free kick to the USA and a yellow to Radeljić. Free kick from about 20 yards – not an ideal spot, really.
79 min Sergej Barbarez, who had a good run in Vegas as a poker player, is so furious that he has picked up the ball. He sees yellow – and he wastes his own team’s time.
No goal?
Tillman with a backheel, McKennie in the buildup, Pulisic races ahead to put it in the net but he was a yard offside.
78 min It looked like a player made contact with Pulisic’s heel. Are we sure that’s not a red card? (Note sarcasm.)
77 min Pulisic falls at midfield and draws a foul. He’s staying down.
77 min Freeman blocks a shot at the top of the box.
This is interesting: BIH will have used all five subs before the USA use one.
Katić and Kolašinac out. Tabaković and Memić out.
75 min Pulisic does a loop-de-loop through the BIH defense but ends up playing it over the line when bumped.
74 min The BIH corner is taken short, a bit surprising. They work it around and try to set up a shot. Ball eventually played high, but no one’s near Freese.
73 min Corner kick to BIH, and these are going to be very dangerous.
73 min No subs. That’s interesting.
All BIH possession now.
Now we hit the longest 25-30 minutes US fans will have experienced in a very long time.
Hydration emails:
“Weren’t you looking for a good nickname for the USMNT? Andreas Agduyeng has found it: the Mutant Ninja Turtles.” – Kári Tulinius
“Bosnia has my favorite unofficial team song for this World Cup, Dubioza Kolektiv’s ‘I Am From Bosnia - Take Me to America.’” – John Kim
“As a former professional sports radio announcer who didn’t move to the USA for good until his teens, I think I have a good perspective to assure you that Bartholomew Motes is being excessively charitable to that segment of the American TV audience that is only watching because there are red, white, and blue jerseys playing a game of some sort. Say “Pulisic” to these imbeciles two months ago, and they’d think you told them the name of a kitchen appliance brand. This is where the design of Fox TV’s studio panel works well here in the States. You have Thierry Henry, who provides the level of insight and understanding a World Cup deserves, and Alexi Lalas, who speaks down at a level that these jingoistic bozos still struggle to comprehend.” – Eric Peterson
I think the studio show suffered without Lalas earlier today.
“What is John Travolta doing in the BIH dugout? This is a Dead Ringer situation!” – Deepak T
“My under standing of soccer (and most sports): “if the ball is here, try to get it over there. But good to see USA is winning so far.” – Cory Anders
68 min Alex Freeman is dispossessed 80 yards from his own goal.
67 min USA back in a 4-4-1 and not pressing. And it’s Wisconsin’s own Bajraktarević turning and shooting but not at a dangerous angle, saved by Freese.
66 min SHOT ON GOAL FOR BIH. Demirovic fires through Richards’ legs but right at Freese.
Red card to Balogun
I’ve seen dozens of worse plays in this Cup that haven’t even been punished with yellow.
This would be beyond harsh. Balogun wasn’t in control, having collided with Muharemovic. He accidentally caught Muharemovic’s leg.
We’re getting a VAR check to see if Balogun should get a red card.
61 min Balogun and Muharemovic get tangled up, and it looks like Balogun may be lucky to evade a yellow card. They’re both down, and both teams have passed water bottles out to everyone on the field.
60 min The international feed keeps showing a stat that BIH have only one shot on target. It’s insanity not to count the corner kick that Freese saved as a shot on target. It was brilliantly taken.
59 min Now it’s a replay of much of the first half, with a long spell of possession on one side of the field. It was the BIH half in the first half. Now it’s the USA. They finally break the pressure after a missed BIH connection (Ream had something to do with it).
58 min If you haven’t figured it out by now, this is not a game for the artistically inclined.
57 min BIH clearly believe they can force more mistakes from the US defense with a high press. Maybe time to introduce a defender or ask Robinson to play back more?
55 min BIH possess for a while, then play long, and the US defenders misjudge it in the wind. That leaves BIH with possession closer to the goal, and the USA are relieved to see center back Katić inexplicably blasting the ball over the bar from 35 yards.
54 min If I were coaching the USA, I might be looking at replacing Tillman. His passing just isn’t sharp here.
49 min BIH play the ball out while Džeko, surely the most inspirational figure in BIH sport, comes up with some sort of non-contact leg injury. He’ll be subbed out, which is unfortunate.
All the subs:
US-born Bajraktarević, Gigovic, Džeko off. Mahmić, Šunjić and … Tahirovic in.
48 min Two balls on the field, and Pulisic picks one to dribble down the left. He puts in a high cross. Balogun is hauled down away from the ball but won’t get a call there. USA corner. Awkwardly punched, but the USA can’t capitalize.
47 min Ream intercepts a through ball.
Pulisic fouled. Takes it quickly to Balogun, who fouls. BIH take it quickly. I’m exhausted just watching this.
Got some fun email right at the end of halftime. Will get back to it.
46 min Unconvincing passes around the back from the US defense. They go long and turn it over.
46 min: We’re back. Big shadows across the field.
“I’m glad the Supreme Court ruled that (Balogun) can play as a citizen today!” – Paul Fox
For the record, I don’t think the Court would have invalidated existing citizenships. It would’ve just kept future Baloguns from being able to get it.
“This American side has no chill, they only have one way to play and that is at full tilt. They lack a playmaker, but as Jürgen Klopp noted, you don’t need one if you press well. There’s a brittleness to the team, but by never slowing down, the opponent has no time to test them. They remind me of no one as much as the 2002 South Koreans.” – Kári Tulinius
“That’s a flagrant 2. Džeko was head-hunting.” – Joe Pearson
I initially saw it as a collision, but upon seeing a replay … yeah.
“Yeah, sigh. The unmerited swagger another follower mentioned is just typical American .. du n’importe quoi sh*t. I’ve honestly never felt less invested in the USMNT because at least in previous tournaments we were treated as the nobodies in men’s soccer that we still are, so anytime the squad played with heart I rejoiced. I feel sickened tbh by all the brainless hype. I prefer the English tough love route. The United States’ 250th bday in two days and we’re already in total societal downfall and decay (IT’S A WORLD RECORD WOOHOO!). I’m proud that visiting fans have loved Texas bbq, mechanical bulls, drank bars dry, delighted in the culture. The culture is everything. But the rest of this country is truly sick. USA! USA! USA! I just don’t feel right about it anymore. It’s a tossup for the gold medal of corruption: US government or FIFA? FIFA or US government? Is it time for a pausa de hidratación yet? Thank God for Telemundo.” – Liisa Sletzinger
“As an 80s Kid, everytime I see the US Men’s National Team abbreviation, I just have to think of the Mutant Ninja Turtles.” – Andreas Agduyeng
Thanks for the virtual poster!
Jeff Rueter
Final third entries so far: USA 38, BIH 10.
Lots of mail …
“The joy of having the USA play in the World Cup at our Santa Clara stadium is bittersweet for Santa Clara residents that paid $90M of our taxpayer money for a stadium that nearly bankrupted us and is calling itself the ‘San Francisco Stadium.’ San Jose and San Francisco are raking in all the profits from this game and we are sitting here unable to afford to clear the cockroaches from our streets having paid for all the extra security needed for this match. I guess we’ll have to build more data centers to make up for the budget shortfall.” – Hyrax
“Senegal must wish they had the same VAR people as the ones looking at this game and the England game.” – Burt Bosma
“I think the American football fans tend to be more cosmopolitan and less jingoistic than the average American sport fan, quite the opposite to the English hooligan stereotype. Will concede that yew ssssssseeeeee aaaaaaaa is a dull and unimaginative chant especially compared to the Australian beauty about Donald Trump. Also in geopolitics the fact that American star Christian Pulišić is a Croat (actually a Croatian citizen according to Wikipedia) with all that history in the former Yugoslavia seems to be under remarked upon in a match against B&H. Keep up the good work!” – Bartholomew Motes
Halftime: USA 1-0 Bosnia and Herzegovina
The USA have played about 40% as well as they did against Australia and Paraguay. Passes are missing their targets – complete, perhaps, but forcing players to reach back or dig the ball out of their own feet. The defense switched off completely on a goal kick early in the game – remember, no offside on goal kicks!
But the quality is still there. Especially with Balogun, who scrambled to get a shot that he finished well. That’s the difference so far.
45 min +10 The precocious Alajbegović is down after a collision with Adams. He gets up and is furious. No free kick – it’s a dropped ball to the USA, and they somehow knock it out of play.
45 min +7 BALOGUN OFF THE TOP OF THE BAR! Adams finds Dest, who heads the ball down in front of the goal. Balogun barely beats the defender to it and tries to flick it into the top of the net, but it skims off the top like the torpedoes in the attack on the Death Star before Luke blew it up. (Spoiler.)
45 min +6 Pulisic is pulled, held and everything else along the sideline. The referee, who has been poor (and I rarely say that, as a referee myself), gives the free kick but not a card.
45 min +5 Pulisic tracks back to help out, and the USA win it back and play it up toward him, winning a throw-in.
