'Pretty cool record' - How USMNT star matched Zinedine Zidane & Ronaldinho in World Cup win over Bosnia & Herzegovina

The United States secured their place in the round of 16 of the 2026 World Cup with a hard-fought 2-0 victory over Bosnia and Herzegovina, but the night took a dramatic turn for Balogun. The Monaco forward scored his third goal of the tournament, moving into second place for the most goals by a US player in a single World Cup.

His night unravelled in the 64th minute when he was shown a red card, ruling him out of next week's last-16 meeting with Belgium in Seattle. Despite being reduced to ten men, Mauricio Pochettino's side sealed the win through Malik Tillman's superb direct free-kick, making him the second American player after Eric Wynalda (1994) to score directly from a free-kick at a World Cup.

Balogun's eventful performance earned him an unwanted suspension, but also a place in World Cup history. By scoring and receiving a red card in the same World Cup knockout match, he became only the fourth player to achieve the feat. The 24-year-old joins an exclusive list featuring Garrincha (1962), Ronaldinho (2002) and Zidane (2006).

Balogun's dismissal leaves the US without their leading scorer for the upcoming match, but the squad remains confident it has the depth to cope with his absence. Crystal Palace defender Chris Richards also reflected on Balogun's place in World Cup history after the match.

Reacting to the statistic, Richards said: "Pretty cool record, huh? We told him that we've got his back now. We've known we're a team of 26, not just one. So, ultimately, we're going to miss him for the next game, but we know that if it's [Ricardo] Pepi or Haji [Wright], whoever the case, is going to step up next and that they're going to do their job just as well as he did."

The United States now turn their attention to a last-16 showdown with Belgium in Seattle. Pochettino must find a way to replace his top scorer, with Pepi and Wright among the options to lead the attack. Having shown resilience to close out victory against Bosnia with ten men, the US will hope that squad depth can again prove decisive as they chase a place in the quarter-finals.