Former USMNT goalkeeper Tim Howard has urged fans not to overreact to the team’s defeat to Türkiye in the final game of the group stage, promising an emphatic response in the round of 32 against Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Mauricio Pochettino’s side made light work of its first two fixtures, dismantling Paraguay 4–1 and seeing off Australia 2–0, but the group stage ended on a sour note with a 3–2 defeat to a Türkiye side that had already been eliminated after losing to the same two opponents the USMNT had beaten.
Fortunately for the U.S., first place in Group D had already been secured, setting up a meeting with Bosnia and Herzegovina in the first stage of the knockouts. Howard is expecting Pochettino’s team to make a real statement.
“Everything’s O.K,” he assured fans on Unfiltered Soccer.
“Just to remind everybody about last night, that was fine. That was great, actually. Türkiye is currently on a plane to Türkiye, and our boys are getting up and they won’t have to set an alarm because Mauricio Pochettino will have said, ‘sleep in.’
“Guess what happened [against Türkiye]? A really awesome thing. We got four of our best players off yellow cards. We got our best player 30 minutes and he looked good. We got players who may never play at a World Cup valuable minutes that they might need down the road.
“And oh, guess what? It’s really good to play in hard games, that’s great, and playing in a hard game that didn’t go our way when the result didn’t matter is success to me. So, the power of the World Cup is amazing. We’ve done so well that people are like, ‘oh my God, we’re not gonna win the World Cup’ because we lost. We’re fine. Everything’s fine.
“Bosnia, they’re better off not even getting on a plane and going to San Francisco, because the U.S. is gonna put work in against them.”
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USMNT fans were on top of the world after the Paraguay game. An undeniably electric performance delivered an emphatic victory and quickly had tongues wagging about a potentially historic World Cup run.
Beating Australia only added to the hype, but the final day of the group stage was a tough one for the USMNT. Concerns about the defeat to Türkiye were limited, largely because a rotated side was playing without pressure, but it was the 0–0 draw between Paraguay and Australia that raised the alarm.
There could be no denying how much better the USMNT had been compared to their first two opponents this summer, but the dull nature of Paraguay and Australia’s stalemate left many wondering whether beating those two teams actually deserved a sense of pride.
The loss against a deceptively strong Türkiye side has effectively reset expectations for the USMNT, which now needs to prove itself once again when it faces off against a tricky Bosnia and Herzegovina unit.
Canada drew 1–1 with Bosnia and Herzegovina in its opening group fixture, largely impressing across 90 minutes but needing a late goal to snatch a draw. Comparisons to the performance the USMNT will put in will be drawn almost immediately, which only adds to the pressure of this monumental fixture.
