IRVINE, California, June 29 (Reuters) – A confident United States team eyeing a deep World Cup run face a Bosnia and Herzegovina side looking to spoil the co-hosts’ party in a last-32 clash in Santa Clara on Wednesday.
The U.S. won their opening two group-stage matches to secure early qualification for the knockout rounds and will look to rebound from a last-gasp defeat by Turkey in a dead rubber in Los Angeles last week when they head north to the Bay Area.
The Americans are heavy favourites, but captain Tim Ream said they would not take Bosnia lightly after the Balkan nation beat Italy in qualifying to deny the four-times champions a place at the tournament and finished third in a group behind Switzerland and Canada.
“They’re a difficult team to play against, and they’re in the tournament for a reason,” Ream told reporters on Monday.
“They went through a little bit of a conflict to get there and they’re just a really tough team. At the end of the day, the game is going to be about us and what we’re prepared to do and what need to do to advance.”
‘EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED’
Bosnia, nicknamed the Dragons, have built their campaign on defensive organisation, but Ream said the U.S. were preparing for all scenarios.
“I don’t know that we really expect Bosnia to just be defensive. We have to expect the unexpected,” he said.
The U.S. will be seeking to score first for a fourth consecutive World Cup match, hoping to ignite a home crowd behind an attack led by Christian Pulisic and Folarin Balogun.
Bosnia are captained by 40-year-old striker Edin Dzeko, widely regarded as the greatest player in the nation’s history, and carry threats through physical forward Ermedin Demirovic and teenage winger Kerim Alajbegovic. Goalkeeper Nikola Vasilj has been another key figure for Bosnia, playing an important role in qualifying and in penalty shootouts, and Ream said the U.S. had placed particular emphasis on spot-kicks and set-pieces.
“We’ve been doing a lot of work on penalties. I won’t go into that,” he said with a laugh. “That’s something that we’ve been working on throughout the week together, even before the tournament started, so that’s taken care of really. We know that, especially in the knockouts, one mistake on a set play can send you home. So we’re fully focused on all aspects and all phases of the game.”