When you are the homeowner, things seem easier, or at least that’s how the United States made it look, as they were superior to Bosnia and Herzegovina for much of the match and suffered almost nothing after going down to 10 to finish with a 2-0 victory that put them into the next round.
The match would start off tightly contested, with the home team having possession and the visitors, with the little they had, managing to create some discomfort with isolated plays, including a shot from the edge of the area by Ermedin Demirovic in the 9th minute and a near Olympic goal by Kerim Alajbegovic in the 11th, both saved by goalkeeper Matt Freese.
As the minutes passed, Team USA's dominance became increasingly evident, and they began to create constant chances in their opponent's area. The most notable of these before the action paused for the first cooling break would be a header from Antonee Robinson in the 17th after a cross from Weston McKennie, which went over the crossbar.
After several attempts, the team coached by Mauricio Pochettino managed to open the scoring in the 30th minute thanks to Folarin Balogun, but the goal would be disallowed for a clear offside by the number 20 himself.
Far from being disheartened by not being ahead on the scoreboard, the Americans continued to pressure the Bosnians and finally converted to make it 1-0. Near the end of the first half, a pass attempt by Malik Tillman would deflect off Stjepan Radeljic and the ball would fall to Balogun, who would finish between the legs of Nikola Vasilj to finally score a legitimate goal.
