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Coach Mauricio Pochettino dismissed the United States’ five-year European jinx as a mere “coincidence” ahead of Wednesday’s highly anticipated World Cup knockout clash against Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Although the US have dropped 10 consecutive matches against European opposition over a woeful winless stretch, the tournament co-hosts still enter the crucial round-of-32 match in San Francisco as the favourites.
Pochettino, who took the US job in 2024 after decades of playing and coaching in Europe, denied that his squad struggles with European tactical styles and framed the match as a prime opportunity to rewrite history.
The United States ironically secured their last victory against a European side in a 2021 friendly against Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Since drawing with England at the previous World Cup, the US have lost to the Netherlands, Serbia, Slovenia, Switzerland, Belgium, Portugal, and twice each to Germany and Turkey.
Many of those losses were against top teams and were set up deliberately by the football federation to test the squad since the US automatically qualify as co-hosts of the tournament.
The intense preparation appears to have benefited the co-hosts so far in this tournament.
The US secured dominant group-stage victories over Paraguay and Australia before resting key players during a meaningless final group-stage loss to Türkiye.
Furthermore, star forward Christian Pulisic has returned to full fitness and is available to start on Wednesday.
Despite sitting 46 places above Bosnia and Herzegovina in the FIFA rankings, Pochettino rejected the notion that his team holds an easy advantage, pointing to the recent shocking tournament eliminations of Germany and the Netherlands to preach caution.
Conversely, Bosnia and Herzegovina coach Sergej Barbarez openly accepted the underdog label, acknowledging that the US deserved the favourite status due to their home-field advantage and star-studded roster.
