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Ex-USMNT shot-stopper Tim Howard has called on supporters not to panic following the team's loss to Türkiye in their final group stage match, predicting a strong showing in the round of 32 clash against Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Mauricio Pochettino's squad breezed through its opening two matches, thrashing Paraguay 4–1 and defeating Australia 2–0, but the group stage concluded on a disappointing note with a 3–2 loss to a Türkiye side that had already been knocked out after falling to the same two teams the USMNT had previously defeated.
Luckily for the Americans, they had already clinched top spot in Group D, earning a date with Bosnia and Herzegovina in the opening knockout round. Howard is anticipating Pochettino's men to deliver a commanding performance.
"Everything's O.K," he reassured supporters 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."