The U.S. Men’s National Team will return to FIFA World Cup motion on Wednesday in Santa Clara, Calif. It is set to tackle Bosnia and Herzegovina within the Spherical of 32 — the primary one-off, do-or-die knockout stage of the event.
The principles of this stage are easy: The USMNT will advance with a win and finish its World Cup fully with a loss.
What’s Bosnia and Herzegovina’s World Cup story?
Bosnia and Herzegovina despatched gamers to early World Cups as part of Yugoslavia, however its first World Cup look as an unbiased nation got here in Brazil in 2014. It was eradicated within the group stage with three factors to its identify, however it did handle a well-known 3-1 win over Iran alongside the best way, with veteran striker Edin Dzeko scoring the nation’s first World Cup objective.
How did it qualify for this World Cup?
With a complete lot of drama. After churning by way of a number of coaches early on within the World Cup cycle, Bosnia and Herzegovina rallied itself round coach Sergej Barbarez and completed second in its European qualifying group that includes Austria, Romania, Cyprus and San Marino. That earned it a spot within the European World Cup playoffs, the place it confronted heavyweights Wales and Italy in twin do-or-die knockout video games. It received each on penalties to seal its World Cup berth in opposition to the percentages.
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