It has been a very successful World Cup campaign for Mauricio Pochettino's team so far, but now the serious business is about to begin. The United States beat both Paraguay and Australia in convincing fashion, thereby topping Group D with a game to spare. Thus, Thursday's 3-2 defeat against Türkiye in LA should be put to one side, considering Pochettino made nine changes to his lineup.
Now though, the knockout stages are well underway, with the USMNT having to wait until Wednesday for their tie, meaning all of their key players will be fresh and ready to go. Bosnia & Herzegovina are the Stars and Stripes' opponents in the Bay Area, but who would the winners face thereafter?
United States' potential World Cup knockout stage schedule
- Round of 32. Wed July, 1. Kick off 8 p.m. ET in Santa Clara vs. Bosnia & Herzegovina.
- Round of 16. Mon July, 6. Kick off 8 p.m. ET in Seattle vs. Belgium or Senegal.
- Quarter-final. Fri July, 10. Kick off 3 p.m. ET in LA. vs. Spain, Portugal, Croatia or Austria.
- Semi-final. Tue July, 14. Kick off 3 p.m. ET in Dallas vs. France, Morocco, Canada, Sweden or Paraguay.
- Final. Sun July, 19. Kick off 3 p.m. ET in New Jersey vs. Argentina, England, Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, Norway, Switzerland, Côte d'Ivoire, Mexico, Ecuador, Egypt, Australia, DR Congo, Ghana or Cape Verde.
Excluding two January camp out-of-window friendlies, Bosnia and the U.S. have only met once before. This was a thrilling friendly in Sarajevo in 2013, in which Jozy Altidore scored a hat-trick in a 4-3 victory for the United States. Scoring two of Bosnia's goals that night at Olimpijski stadion Koševo was Edin Džeko who, at the age of 40, is still going strong and will be leading the Dragons' attack.
If the U.S. do win this rematch at Levi's Stadium on Wednesday, their path to a first World Cup quarter-final since 2002 is not a straight-forward one. Earlier in the day, Belgium and Senegal will meet at Lumen Field, with the winners staying in Seattle to meet either USA or Bosnia on July 6.
So, who would U.S. fans rather play? Well, the Stars and Stripes met Senegal for the very first time as recently as a pre-tournament friendly in Charlotte on May 31. That day, goals from Sergiño Dest and then Christian Pulisic saw the hosts race into a 2-0 lead, only for Sadio Mané to bag a quick-fire brace for the Lions of Téranga, but Folarin Balogun then pounced on a poor back pass to secure a 3-2 win.
Thus, perhaps fans will want Senegal to win, especially considering the United States' record against Belgium. USA won the first-ever meeting between the pair at the 1930 World Cup but, since then, it is six victories out of six for the Red Devils. Their most-consequential encounter came in the round of 16 at the 2014 World Cup when, despite Tim Howard's record tally of 16 saves in Salvador, extra time goals from Kevin De Bruyne and Romelu Lukaku saw Belgium advance at Arena Fonte Nova.
Perhaps more pertinently, the two nations met as recently as March in a friendly that did not go well for USA. That afternoon at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Belgium crushed Pochettino's team 5-2, scoring three times in 15 minute spree shortly after half time. Well, at this tournament, the co-hosts have been ultra-impressive, while the same certainly cannot be said of Rudi Garcia's team to date. So, that would be a fascinating rematch, if both are victorious on Wednesday.
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