In a Gutsy World Cup Win, the USMNT Refused to Retreat

As Folarin Balogun, the luminescent United States striker, skulked off the field in the 64th minute of Wednesday’s round of 32 match in the World Cup — the recipient of a red card of debatable validity — the full enormity of the Americans’ perilous position crashed down all at once on Balogun’s teammates, a sellout crowd at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California, and the millions watching on television.

The Americans’ one-goal lead over Bosnia-Herzegovina, courtesy of Balogun’s own brilliance, already felt impossibly thin. Now it looked translucent. Already tasked with lugging around the program’s awful history of World Cup failures, now the beleaguered Americans had to protect that precious lead while playing the rest of the game with 10 players. The gloom-and-doom types among the team’s fan base — which is to say, all of them — no longer had to wonder how this one would unravel.

But instead of unraveling, the Americans surged. Instead of retreating into a defensive posture, they kept attacking. Instead of squandering their lead, they doubled it — on Malik Tillman’s arcing free kick from just outside the penalty area in the 82nd minute.

And instead of suffering another monumental loss on soccer’s biggest stage, they delivered a stunning 2-0 victory that sends them into a round of 16 meeting with Belgium on Monday night — a match they will have to navigate without the services of Balogun, thanks to Wednesday night’s fateful red card.

But before anyone moves on to the Belgium game, it is worth taking a moment to appreciate what the USMNT accomplished Wednesday night:

• It won a knockout round game in the World Cup for the first time since 2002 and just the second time since 1930.

• It earned its third win at this World Cup, unprecedented in program history.

• It gave the U.S. just its second World Cup victory over a European opponent in the past 36 years, while also snapping a streak of 10 straight losses in any setting against European sides.

“We know who we are and we know what we are,” captain Tim Ream told reporters. “Red card comes out and that’s just the way things go. You look around and say ‘All right, this is what we have to do.’ We buckled down and did everything we possibly could to keep the ball out of the net.”

Whether Balogun deserved the red card given to him by referee Raphael Claus will be debated for generations. It came after Balogun, making an ill-advised challenge, appeared to rake the back of the leg of Bosnia’s Tarik Muharemović. The offending action, however, appeared to be innocent despite its painful result; Balogun had his back to Muharemović the entire time they were engaged.

It was perhaps telling that Claus failed to deem the play worthy of even a yellow card, let alone a red. It was only after video review of the play that Balogun was given the red card.

To that point, Balogun — a Londoner of Nigerian descent who was born in New York, and whose claim to an American passport comes courtesy of birthright citizenship — had dominated the action like a true superstar.

His goal came near the end of the first half, when he collected a deflection inside the box, held off his defender and fired a low, left-footed drive that squirted off the right leg of Bosnian goalkeeper Nikola Vasilj and into the goal — punctuating the score with an homage to LeBron James’ “Silencer” celebration. He also had at least three other near-scores, including an apparent goal waved off for an offside call.

As it turned out, the U.S. would have to play a man down for no less than 36 excruciating minutes, including 10 minutes of stoppage time. And while the task of protecting the slim lead was made infinitely easier by Tillman’s beautiful free-kick goal — which skimmed the heads of the Bosnian defenders who formed a wall in front of him and curled into the left corner of the net — those minutes ticked by impossibly slow, and only the referee’s final whistle gave the Americans a chance to breathe.

The loss of Balogun will certainly complicate the USMNT’s mission Monday night against Belgium — which, earlier Wednesday, rallied late from two goals down against Senegal to win in extra time, 3-2 — with a trip to the quarterfinals on the line. That is the same Belgium team that trounced the U.S., 5-2, in a World Cup tuneup four months ago.

But anyone who thinks Balogun’s absence will doom the U.S. to certain defeat clearly didn’t take the proper lesson from this gutsy win. After everything the Americans overcame Wednesday night, it is time to entertain the idea that an entirely new era has arrived for the USMNT, one in which anything is suddenly possible.