Christian Pulisic is back where he belongs — in the starting lineup — as the United States squares off against Bosnia in a round-of-32 showdown on Wednesday in Santa Clara, California.
The American star had been limited to a substitute role in the team’s most recent group stage outing, a 3-2 loss to Turkey, after battling a calf injury earlier in the tournament. Now fully back in the fold, Pulisic joins a starting 11 that U.S. coach Mauricio Pochettino has essentially reset to the same group that dominated Paraguay 4-1 in the Americans’ opening group match.
On the other side, Bosnia coach Sergej Barbarez made three adjustments to his squad heading into the knockout round. Notably, U.S.-born winger Esmir Bajraktarevic will begin the match on the bench.
The stakes are high — whoever comes out on top Wednesday will advance to the round of 16 to face Belgium.
U.S. Starting Lineup: Matt Freese; Sergino Dest, Chris Richards, Antonee Robinson, Tim Ream, Alex Freeman, Tyler Adams, Weston McKennie, Malik Tillman, Christian Pulisic, Folarin Balogun.
Bosnia Starting Lineup: Nikola Vasilj, Tarik Muharemovic, Sead Kolasinac, Amar Dedic, Nikola Katic, Stjepan Radeljic, Armin Gigovic, Ivan Sunjic, Ermedin Demirovic, Edin Dzeko, Kerim Alajbegovic.
