SAN JOSE, Calif. — No one needed the reminder at this point, but it came anyway.
While the U.S. men’s soccer team’s charter flight from Orange County to the Bay Area was in the air, a lightning bolt struck the World Cup when Paraguay toppled Germany.
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No doubt, Germany wasn’t good enough, and not for the first time in this tournament. There must have been kegs’ worth of angst in the air at Brauhaus Schmitz on South Street, Philadelphia’s most famous fussball destination, among fans who’d dreamed of seeing the four-time champions come to town on July 4.
But to lose to the same Paraguay squad that the U.S. ran off the field in their tournament opener? That was a shock, and the latest of many lessons in this World Cup.
Yes, anyone can get a result against anyone else these days. Which means the No. 64-ranked Bosnia & Herzegovina team the U.S. faces on Wednesday night has more than a chance against the co-hosts, who return to the site of an infamous loss in the 2016 Copa América and a triumph in the Gold Cup final a year later.
There’s no taking any World Cup game for granted these days, especially when it’s a knockout contest. Nor can you take a moment off, as all three of Monday’s games proved. Before Paraguay-Germany, Japan gave up a 95th-minute winner to Brazil. Afterward, the Netherlands played a lot of ugly soccer, gave up a 90th-minute equalizer to Morocco, then lost on penalties.
“Hopefully we can get it done in regular time — the extra 30 minutes plus pens can get a little bit dangerous,” U.S. centerback Chris Richards said. “We saw the upset yesterday, so us going [in]to this game, [it’s] making sure that we take care of business and go on.”
The point really should have already been hammered home in the American camp by the last-kick-of-the-game loss to Turkey in the group stage finale. But if it was your youth soccer team, or Little League Baseball team, or CYO basketball team, wouldn’t you put one last nudge in before the big game?
“It’s a World Cup. You’re never going to get the so-called favorite winning every single time,” said playmaker Christian Pulisic, who called himself “definitely ready” to start after coming off the bench against Turkey.
“This is soccer, this is the way things go: you can defend all game and win in a penalty kick shoot out, and that’s the beauty of the game,” he continued. “So we have to be ready for whatever’s to come tomorrow. We don’t think it’s going to be easy by any means, so we have to put on a really high-level performance.”
If it feels like this point has been made too much this week, it’s because it ranks so high above everything else there is to say.
Sure, there’s a tactical analysis to write about how Richards will fare against 40-year-old Bosnian striker Edin Džeko, a veteran of big clubs including England’s Manchester City, Italy’s AS Roma and Inter Milan, and Germany’s Wolfsburg and Schalke. Or how Bosnian right winger Esmir Bajraktarević will fare against U.S. defender Antonee Robinson.
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There’s certainly much to say about Bajraktarević in particular, and for good reason. The 21-year-old grew up in Appleton, Wis., to parents who were refugees from the Bosnian war of the 1990s.
He spent two years in the Chicago Fire’s youth academy, then moved to the New England Revolution, where he turned pro and spent three seasons before a move to Dutch club PSV Eindhoven — and is now teammates with U.S. veterans Ricardo Pepi and Sergiño Dest, and used to be with Malik Tillman.
Along the way, Bajraktarević played for U.S. youth national teams at the under-19 and under-23 levels, and earned one cap for the senior U.S. squad in a January 2024 friendly. But because that wasn’t in an official competition, he could change nationality if he wanted to.
When Bosnia called a few months later, he made the switch, and debuted in the fall. A year and a half later, he scored the shootout penalty kick that qualified the Dragons for this World Cup with a playoff upset of Italy.
But if the U.S. team has its way, that story will become just a sidebar when the opening whistle goes. At that point, the motto will become one famously coined at the other end of San Francisco Bay from here, in Oakland: Just win, baby.
Even Tillman, who was born in Germany and has grown into understanding American sports, gets the point.
“Yeah, it’s true,” he said, when asked his opinion. “In the end, the win is the most important. And I think after, of course, you can analyze the game, but if you go to the next round, this is the most important.”
In this World Cup, underdogs are stealing the spotlight, the U.S. men are on a roll, and Philadelphia has not only welcomed the world but has given visitors a crash course on just how real the curse of the Rocky Statue can be.
Join Jonathan Tannenwald, the Inquirer’s soccer writer, and host Lisa Carlin, analyst for CBS Sports Golazo, as they dissect the matches, the moments, and more as Philly has its moment in soccer’s brightest spotlight. Watch our latest episode right here.
Watch previous episodes:
Episode 1: The Wait is Over!
Episode 2: Groups, Goals, and Glory
Episode 3: Electric Action in Philly
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