U.S. men piling up historic moments at World Cup, but focus is on the here and now - BERITAJA

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Mauricio Pochettino’s squad continues to do things successful this summer’s World Cup that nary U.S. squad has ever done before.

Its 3 wins are the about successful a azygous tournament. So are the 10 goals successful 4 games. It has the champion extremity differential ever and its 2 shutouts ties a record.

Yet each that intends perfectly thing to the players.

“They’re awesome milestones,” skipper Tim Ream said. “But I don’t deliberation anybody’s moreover erstwhile mentioned the different things that we’re doing. We’re focused connected what we’re doing regular connected the training ground, because that puts america successful the champion imaginable position to to put these performances.

“So yeah, not alert aliases moreover worried about records that we’re breaking.”

Well, isolated from for possibly one.

With Wednesday’s gritty 2-0 complete Bosnia and Herzegovina, a crippled the U.S. vanished pinch conscionable 10 men, the Americans won a crippled successful the World Cup knockout shape for conscionable the 2nd time. That sends them connected to a round-of-16 gathering pinch Belgium connected Monday successful Seattle wherever a triumph would beryllium — you guessed it — historic.

“It’s cool and it’s awesome and it’s an accomplishment,” midfielder Weston McKennie said of the records. “But astatine the aforesaid time, we person precocious expectations for ourselves. That’s what we expect of ourselves, what we expect of our team.

“We conscionable want to attraction connected Belgium now and proceed to effort to make history.”

That chore sewage a bully woody much difficult because of an unwanted squad grounds that was besides group Wednesday. When Folarin Balogun scored a extremity precocious successful the first half past drew a reddish card early successful the second, he became the first American — and 3rd subordinate ever — to get 1 of each successful the aforesaid World Cup knockout game.

“Cool record,” defender Chris Richards said.

But while the goal, Balogun’s 3rd of the tournament, proved to beryllium each the U.S. needed to hit Bosnia, the reddish paper — which cannot beryllium appealed — intends he’s suspended for the crippled pinch Belgium.

“It’s conscionable truthful unfortunate, honestly,” Christian Pulisic said. “Looking backmost astatine it, it seems truthful harsh. I conscionable told him he’s done truthful overmuch for us, and now we’ve sewage his back.”

The reddish paper came successful the 64^th infinitesimal pinch the U.S. protecting a 1-0 lead built connected Balogun’s extremity conscionable earlier the intermission. The American striker was battling hulking Bosnia defender Tarik Muharemovic for a loose shot erstwhile he inadvertently raked Muharemovic’s correct calf pinch his studs up, past landed connected his ankle, twisting it awkwardly.

Brazilian referee Raphael Claus did not flash either paper earlier stopping play astatine the behest of the video adjunct referee. But aft consulting a slow-motion reply, Claus gave Balogun a reddish paper for a vulnerable challenge.

“For me, ne'er is this a reddish card,” said Pochettino, now the winningest U.S. coach successful World Cup history. “Watching aft connected TV, ne'er was [it his] volition to measurement up connected the player. That was a normal action successful football.”

Maybe. But Claus sent Balogun disconnected conscionable the same, leaving the U.S. to protect a one-goal advantage for the last 30 minutes while playing a man down. It was about apt the sternest trial the Americans person faced successful the tournament.

“It would beryllium easy to person an excuse if they did score,” McKennie said. “But that’s not the type of squad we are.”

For Ream, the situation was really nary situation astatine all.

“Would it beryllium weird if I downplayed this and said [I] wasn’t moreover fazed by it?” he said. “It didn’t consciousness for illustration we were down a man. We were still capable to carve retired chances and we were still capable to support clasp of the ball. Everybody knew their roles.

“It felt really calm and felt really, really easy and elemental for america successful that moment.”

And that allowed different leader to motion disconnected the symptom of his ain wounds and measurement up big.

Early successful the 2nd half a Bosnian subordinate stomped connected Malik Tillman, shredding his footwear and cutting his correct ft (but not drafting a reddish card). During the hydration break, Tillman was capable to alteration shoes and successful the 82^nd minute, his achromatic sock turning reddish pinch blood, he recovered himself opinionated complete a free footwear conscionable extracurricular the Bosnian punishment area.

“I’ve been dreaming about this game. I’ve been dreaming about, yeah, possibly taking a free footwear and scoring,” said Tillman, who bent the shot disconnected the gloved correct manus of Bosnian keeper Nikola Vasilj and into the nett for his first World Cup goal. “I trained for this successful our practices and past it really came true.”

So did the team’s dreams of reaching the information of 16, only now they’re arriving without their starring scorer, who will person to watch the Belgium crippled from the stands. Balogun’s absence, however, creates opportunity for others, pinch Haji Wright and Ricardo Pepi the about apt candidates to return his place.

And if this U.S. squad has proven anything, it’s proven that it loves thing much than embracing opportunities to beryllium group wrong.

“We’re going to miss him for the adjacent crippled but we cognize that if it’s Pepi aliases Haji, whoever, is going to measurement up adjacent and they’re going to do the occupation conscionable arsenic good arsenic he did,” Richards said of Balogun. “One point about this squad is we’re really a large family and we’re shown it this full tournament.

“Coming in, location was a batch of mobility marks about our full squad successful general. Game by crippled we started to put ourselves right. Because we knew we had it the full time.”