Ten man USA battle past brave Bosnia

Round of 32

USA 2-0 Bosnia and Herzegovina 

The United States will be without prolific goalscorer Falorin Balogun for their last-16 clash with Belgium after he received a red card in the host nation’s 2-0 win over Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Goals from Balogun and Malik Tillman were enough for the US to progress following a fiery encounter which saw Bosnia manager Sergej Barbarez given a yellow card for his behaviour on the sideline.

It was Bosnia who asked the first questions of the match, but momentum settled quickly with the US.

The raucous Santa Clara crowd was brought to life at the half-hour mark when Balogun struck home, but the effort was ruled out for offside.

He did not have to wait much longer to celebrate however, the Monaco forward finding the back of the net in the 45th minute off the back of a calamitous defensive error from Stjepan Radeljic, who touched the ball straight to Balogun in the box.

The match threatened to boil over for the US in the 62nd minute when Balogun was sent off for a heavy challenge which caught the ankle of Tarik Muharemovic.

The hosts proved up to the challenge defensively though, Bosnia threatening repeatedly but unable to break through.

The second goal came in the 80th minute, when Tillman’s free-kick attempt from just outside the box went up and over the wall and beat the outstretched hands of Bosnia keeper Nikola Vasilj.

Bosnia had multiple chances to score in the 10 minutes of added time, but were ultimately unable to keep their World Cup dreams alive.