U.S. World Cup Training Base (IRVINE, Calif.) \u2014<\/strong> When was the last time the U.S. men\u2019s national team won a knockout game at a World Cup?<\/p>\n Well, it\u2019s been awhile. At the 2002 tournament hosted by South Korea and Japan, the Americans beat rival Mexico in the round of 16 to advance to the quarterfinals, where they lost to eventual runners-up Germany. They haven\u2019t made it that far since.<\/p>\n On Wednesday, the U.S. has a chance to make history when it faces Bosnia and Herzegovina in the round of 32 in the San Francisco Bay Area. The Americans enter the knockout stage after winning Group D, though they\u2019re also coming off a stunning 3-2 loss to T\u00fcrkiye in which they conceded the game-winner in the 98th minute. The group was down and disappointed after the match, but has since had time to recharge and get back to it. There’s a renewed sense of urgency.<\/p>\n “It\u2019s just more serious,” striker Folarin Balogun told reporters of the energy in the group. “It\u2019s crunch time, it\u2019s knockout football. You lose, you go home, so this is the business end, and this is the stage where, in my opinion, the big players step forward, and the big players carry the pressure and make things happen.”<\/p>\n (Photo by Jane Gershovich\/ISI Photos\/ISI Photos via Getty Images)<\/span> <\/p>\n Balogun is certainly one of those players. He leads the team with two goals and helped force Australia\u2019s own goal with his speed and relentless pressure. And he wants more.<\/p>\n He\u2019s also probably talking about Christian Pulisic. The star winger played a role in the Americans\u2019 first two goals against Paraguay before being forced off with a left calf injury that then ruled him out of the next match. Pulisic played 32 minutes against T\u00fcrkiye and is expected back in the starting lineup this week.<\/p>\n Pulisic looked like himself at training \u2014 vocal, demanding and engaged, and constantly talking to and encouraging teammates during drills. “Good ball,” he shouted to Tim Weah before urging Joe Scally to “find somebody through,” pointing to where he wanted the pass played.<\/p>\n “I feel like I can feel the difference in the atmosphere,” Balogun said ahead of Sunday\u2019s training session. “There\u2019s a change in my mindset and mentality. Not that I wasn\u2019t taking it seriously before, but you can just go into another gear because you know you want it more, and I don\u2019t want the journey to end.”<\/p>\n After galvanizing the nation in the group stage and having sing-a-long sessions to “Take Me Home, Country Roads,” nothing will matter if the U.S. can\u2019t make a run in the knockouts.\u00a0<\/p>\n “For me, it won\u2019t mean much,” Balogun said. “The objective is to win. I\u2019m not somebody who would look back and think we\u2019ve done well. That\u2019s not really my mentality. I\u2019m just looking forward to Wednesday and looking forward to going out there and winning.”<\/p>\n The U.S. hasn’t beaten a European opponent since a 1-0 friendly win over Bosnia and Herzegovina on Dec. 18, 2021. Before that, its previous victory over a European side came against Iceland on Jan. 31, 2016 \u2014 two months before Pulisic made his national team debut.<\/p>\n Since the Bosnia and Herzegovina win in 2021, the Americans have played 12 matches against European opponents without another victory, and no one on the team seems to have a clear explanation as to why. They\u2019ve come close, including a 2-1 loss to Germany in a World Cup tune-up match they were capable of winning, and last week\u2019s heartbreaking group-stage finale defeat to T\u00fcrkiye.<\/p>\n (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News\/ SCNG)<\/span> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" POPULAR SEARCHES BROWSE BY U.S. World Cup Training Base (IRVINE, Calif.) \u2014 When was the last time the U.S. men\u2019s national team won a knockout game at a World Cup? Well, it\u2019s been awhile. At the 2002 tournament hosted by South Korea and Japan, the Americans beat rival Mexico in the round of 16 to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":5722,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5723","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-soccer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5723","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5723"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5723\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5722"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5723"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5723"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5723"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}