The United States beat Bosnia-Herzegovina 2-0 to progress to the Last 16 of the World Cup.
The Stars and Stripes have become more of a force at the World Cup, qualifying for eight of the last nine tournaments after a spell of nine tournaments without an appearance. They’ve also appeared in four of the last five Concacaf Gold Cup finals, winning two of them.
The early signs are incredibly promising. After a 4-1 dismantling of Paraguay in their opening match, the hosts followed that up with another three points in a confident 2-0 win over Australia. The US lost 3-2 to Turkey in their final group match, but they were already assured top spot in Group D ahead of that match, with nine changes made to Pochettino’s line-up.
Despite a red card for talisman Folarin Balogun, his first half goal and a late second from Malik Tillman helped the USMNT through to a Last-16 tie with Belgium.
There are plenty of familiar names at Pochettino’s disposal, with several players making big-money moves to Europe in recent years, but can the Argentine manager find the right mix and lead the USMNT to their best-ever World Cup finish?
USA odds to win the World Cup
It’s been a case of consistency for the United States over the past few World Cups, with the Stars and Stripes reaching the round of 16 in each of the last four competitions now.
Last time out, at World Cup 2022, it was the Netherlands that proved too strong for them in the first knockout round, running out 3-1 winners.
The co-hosts were priced at around 80/1 prior to the tournament, meaning they aren’t viewed as one of the favourites, but after this strong start, bookmakers feel they could spring a surprise and have dropped those odds.
USA are now priced at around 33/1 to win the World Cup with most bookmakers.
USA World Cup top goalscorer odds
United States didn’t appear blessed with the kind of top-level goalscorer that will be spotted towards the top of this particular market. However, Folarin Balogun has quickly fired himself into contention with his brace against Paraguay.
The Monaco forward looked sharp in his team’s opener and, in the end, was disappointed not to be walking away with the match ball. Nevertheless, he will go into the rest of the tournament full of confidence. He’s now 100/1 to become top scorer at the tournament.
