The USA will look to lay another marker down on their home World Cup in Santa Clara on Wednesday night, when they face Bosnia and Herzegovina in the Round of 32.
Mauricio Pochettino's side won their group with 4-1 and 2-0 wins over Paraguay and Australia respectively in their first two games, which guaranteed that they'd top the group. Pochettino made a raft of changes for an inconsequential third group game against Turkiye, which the USA lost 3-2, after Kaan Ayhan scored the winner with the last kick of the game.
The likes of Tyler Adams, Folarin Balogun, and Chris Richards will return to the side for this game, as the USA look to book a Round of 16 tie against either Belgium or Senegal.
The Bosnians will be no pushovers though. They won one and drew one of the group games, either side of a big loss to Switzerland, but not long ago, they did eliminate Italy in the qualifiers to be a part of this World Cup. They will no doubt look to spoil this American party in Santa Clara, and will be confident as well, after the 3-1 win in their final group game against Qatar, which confirmed their place in the Round of 32.
Here's everything you need to know about Wednesday's game.
How to watch:
The match will be available on BBC One in the UK, Fox Sports in the U.S., Zee5 in India and SBS in Australia. You can also follow ESPN's live updates.
Key Details:
Date, kick-off time:
U.S. ET: 8 p.m. Wednesday, July 1
UK BST: 1 a.m. Thursday, July 2
India IST: 5:30 a.m. Thursday July 2
Australia AEST: 10 a.m. Thursday, July 2
Venue: Levi's Stadium, Santa Clara, California, USA
Referee: TBC
Team News
USA - Predicted XI
Matt Freese
Alex Freeman | Chris Richards | Tim Ream | Antonee Robinson
Weston McKennie | Tyler Adams | Malik Tillman
Sergino Dest | Folarin Balogun | Christian Pulisic
Bosnia and Herzegovina - Predicted XI
Nikola Vasilj
Arjan Malic | Nikola Katic | Tarik Muharemovic | Sead Kolasinac
Esmir Bajraktarevic | Ivan Sunjic | Ivan Basic | Kerim Alajbegovic
Ermedin Demirovic | Edin Dzeko
Talking Points
Can the USA start fast again?
In both their opening games, the USA pressed high, with superb intensity, right from the off. That made a big difference to the eventual outcome of both those games. They opened the scoring in the seventh minute against Paraguay, and in the 11th minute against Australia, both those leads coming from own goals.
They will look to do that once again, as they look to keep a partisan home crowd raucous in the early exchanges, which will unsettle the Bosnians. The combinations they had up front, with the likes of Folarin Balogun, Sergiño Dest and Christian Pulisic combining with Weston McKennie and Malik Tillman were a delight to watch.
This USA side has all the hallmarks of a typical Pochettino team, and they will once again look to stamp their authority on the early exchanges of this game. Pulisic didn't start that game against Australia and played only the first half against Paraguay. However, he did make a substitute appearance against Turkiye and played more than half an hour to ease any concerns about his fitness.
If he starts, as he must, then the Bosnian right-back Arjan Malic will have to watch out.
Bosnia and Herzegovina's chance to spoil the home party
Bosnia and Herzegovina made this World Cup on their ability to be strong defensively and effective on the counter-attack. That went away for a while against the Swiss, even though that game was also hugely influenced at the end by a red card to centre-back Tarek Muharemovic. Bosnia conceded three times after that red card, having frustrated the Swiss for large parts before that.
In Esmir Bajraktarevic and Kerim Alajbegovic, they have two pacy, tricky wingers, and in Ermedin Demirovic and Edin Dzeko, two strikers who know the route to goal.
Obviously, their first priority will be containing an exciting USA attack. But if they can frustrate the hosts through the opening exchanges, then they can grab a foothold in this game, and make an impact on it through those exciting attacking players in their ranks.