SANTA CLARA — Malik Tillman was among the millions of viewers who tuned in Monday for Paraguay’s stunning World Cup victory over Germany. And he may have been a more interested viewer than most.
Not only was Tillman born in Germany, but the U.S. team he plays for in this World Cup routed Paraguay in its tournament opener. So now that the South Americans have beaten the 10th-ranked team in the world, does that make the U.S. better than Germany?
Tillman laughed off the question.
“This is up to you guys to say,” he told a group of reporters. “Of course it gives us a little bit of confidence. But I think the most important lesson is that you have to be ready. Anything can happen.”
Much has happened three days into the elimination stages of this World Cup. Paraguay and Morocco eliminated European giants Germany and the Netherlands on penalty kicks and Brazil, a five-time champion, needed a goal deep in stoppage time to beat Japan, which has never won a knockout game.
All those results offer a cautionary tale for the U.S., which is heavily favored in its round-of-32 game with Bosnia-Herzegovina on Wednesday at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara.
“The knockout round is unforgiving,” defender Chris Richards said. “Every team that’s in the knockout round has earned it and deserved it. So I’m going to go into it with the same mentality.”
The group stage is three games long, meaning teams gets at least one Mulligan. The U.S., for example, won its first two games to clinch a spot in the next round, then lost to Turkey in a meaningless final game.
But there is no room for mistakes now. Previous performances are wiped away and everyone goes even into the elimination rounds, where a win will send you on and a loss will send you home.
“We don’t think too much about we beat this team, they beat this team. It doesn’t really matter. We just have to be ready going forward,” said Christian Pulisic, who has been limited by a calf injury to one start and 78 minutes in the tournament.
However Pulisic, who hasn’t played a full 90-minute game in more than three months, pronounced himself fit before training Tuesday.
That’s good because the knockout rounds have never been kind to the U.S., which has won just one elimination game in its history. That came in 2002 when the Americans beat Mexico to reach the quarterfinals of a World Cup for the only time in the modern era.
And that’s not the only history the U.S. will be seeking to upend Wednesday against Bosnia and Herzegovina. The U.S. is winless in its last 12 games against European opponents and has lost its last 10 straight, beginning with its final game in the last World Cup when it was eliminated by the Netherlands.
“I don’t believe that,” said U.S. coach Mauricio Pochettino, who said he wasn’t aware of his team’s dismal record against European teams. “It’s pure coincidence.”
The last European team the U.S. beat? Bosnia and Herzegovina, in December 2021.
That was a different team though, one managed by Bulgarian Ivaylo Petev. Under coach Sergej Barbarez, a former professional poker player, the gritty Bosnians rarely gamble, instead playing a disciplined and physical style that emphasizes compactness and swift counterattacks.
Barbarez said he’s been enjoying both his time in the U.S. during this World Cup, but also watching the joy and enthusiasm with which the Americans play.
“I’m smiling because these guys, they’re making me smile,” he said. “I’m happy that I’m still in the USA. This is the seventh city in the USA — hopefully we’ll be in the eighth.”
“This is a team that deserves a huge respect from me … the way they use this euphoria around them for this World Cup, it’s nice to see this. I really respect them.”
Bosnia beat Wales and Italy in back-to-back playoff games in March to qualify for its first World Cup in 12 years, and its approach here has been more similar to that of Australia, a team the U.S. beat 2-0 in the group stage, than to European neighbor Turkey, the only team that has taken down the U.S. in the World Cup.
Getting through the first stage was a breeze for the U.S., which won its first two games, collecting six points in group play for the first time since 1930. Its eight goals are the most ever for an American team in the tournament and a win Wednesday over a Bosnian team the U.S. has never lost to would add to the history, giving the Americans three victories in a World Cup for a first time.
Yet given what has already happened in this tournament and given the pedigree of the teams already headed home, Pochettino is taking nothing for granted.
“For us, it is the final of the World Cup tomorrow. Because we don’t have another opportunity if we fail,” he said. “And if we go through, the next one is going to be another final of the World Cup. That needs to be our mindset and our mentality.”
Staff writer Mirjam Swanson contributed to this report.
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