Kane to the rescue for England
Belgium stuns Senegal with two late goals and an extra-time penalty
England's Harry Kane celebrates scoring the team's winning goal against the Democratic Republic of the Congo on Wednesday in Atlanta.
WORLD CUP
England's World Cup campaign started well with a 4-2 win over Croatia before two below-par performances raised doubts. A scoreless draw with Ghana and a tense 2-0 win over Panama suggested Thomas Tuchel's side was not as convincing as many had expected.
In their 2-1 comeback win over DR Congo in the round of 32 on Wednesday in Atlanta, the doubts started to assume significant proportions.
When Brian Cipenga fired the underdogs ahead inside the opening 10 minutes, every concern that had hovered over England's campaign suddenly felt real. England had not trailed at any point in the tournament until then. Nor had they ever won a World Cup game after trailing at halftime.
And here they were, chasing the game against a heroic Congolese side determined to defend every blade of grass.
Every DR Congo attack came with a sense of dread. England's defensive frailties, exposed during the group phase and compounded by injuries, were laid bare again.
The underdogs needed just one shot on target to take the lead, while at the other end they built what seemed an impenetrable wall in front of DRC goalkeeper Lionel Mpasi.
After the first-half hydration break, England's Jude Bellingham forced a superb save from Mpasi with a fine header and Declan Rice whipped dangerous deliveries into the box. Marcus Rashford was denied by desperate goal-line defending and another magnificent stop from Mpasi frustrated Bellingham again in stoppage time.
Harry Kane's 75th-minute equalizer, a glancing header that brushed the fingertips of Mpasi on its way in, released enough tension to power a small city.
Then came the winner: Kane struck again in the 86th minute to drag England into the last 16 after the most uncomfortable 90 minutes of Tuchel's tenure.
"As soon as he hit, I knew it was going in. I was already celebrating," said forward Anthony Gordon, who assisted Kane twice.
"We kept believing," Tuchel said. "Well deserved, but we had to work a lot. We have to have that mindset if it is getting hard, it is getting hard, but don't lose patience and don't lose belief."
The comeback win was England's first in the World Cup since they beat Cameroon in the quarterfinals in 1990, exactly 36 years ago to the day.
The reward is another challenge entirely: A Round of 16 match against Mexico at Mexico City's famed Azteca Stadium.
BELGIUM 3, SENEGAL 2 (ET): Belgium booked its place in the round of 16 with a dramatic win over Senegal on Wednesday in Seattle, scoring two late goals to force extra time before Youri Tielemans converted a penalty in the 125th minute. Tielemans scored the winner from the spot after being fouled in the box.
Habib Diarra tapped in after Ismaila Sarr's header hit the post to give Senegal a lead in the 25th minute.
Sarr smashed the ball past Thibaut Courtois to double the lead in the 51st minute, but substitute Romelu Lukaku pulled one back for Belgium in the 86th minute before captain Tielemans equalized less than three minutes later to force extra time.
BRIEFLY
ECUADOR: Sebastian Beccacece bid a heartfelt farewell as Ecuador coach following their 2-0 defeat by Mexico in the round of 32 on Tuesday, saying he would have liked to continue in the role but that he had failed to deliver on his promises.
MEXICO: Four people died, three of asphyxiation, during late-night street celebrations in Mexico City after hundreds of thousands of fans gathered along the capital's main central avenue as Mexico beat Ecuador to win their first World Cup knockout match in 40 years.
Mexico City's department of health said emergency teams tended to three unconscious people at different locations around Paseo de la Reforma, the boulevard along which giant screens were showing the match.
ONLINE ABUSE: FIFA's digital watchdogs uncovered 89,000 abusive posts on social media during the group stage, marking a 13-fold increase from the 2022 edition in Qatar.
The spike was recorded after FIFA's Social Media Protection Service scanned over 6 million posts and comments — a 33% jump from 2022 — with racial abuse accounting for 11% of all detected offensive messages.
US wins 2-0 over Bosnia
Team will face Belgium for spot in quarterfinals
Sebastian Berhalter of the U.S. celebrates the team's win over Bosnia on Wednesday in Santa Clara, Calif., qualifying the U.S. for the round of 16 stage of the World Cup.
It took blood and sweat to produce tears of joy as the short-handed U.S. men's national team moved to the World Cup's round of 16 with a gritty 2-0 win over Bosnia and Herzegovina on Wednesday in Santa Clara, California.
The USMNT's first knockout-stage win in 24 years sets up a meeting with Belgium on Monday in Seattle with a spot in the quarterfinals on the line.
Amid the postgame jubilation was the realization that leading scorer Folarin Balogun, who popped in his third goal of the tournament in the 45th minute, will miss the next match. The forward received a red card in the 64th minute on Wednesday, leaving the U.S. scrambling to defend a 1-0 lead.
They did and more when Malik Tillman scored from a free kick in the 82nd minute to seal the win. The result ended the United States' 10-match losing streak to European teams and also marked the first time the U.S. won three matches in the same World Cup.
Tillman paused after the match to reflect on his wonder goal but also to look ahead to Belgium.
"We have to enjoy this moment now," he said. "(Against Belgium), we want to go as fast possible, and it won't be an easy game, but now we will analyze them, we will analyze our game and hopefully we keep going."
In the post-match interview room, Tillman was in his socks with blood noticeable on the right sock by the big toe. He explained that in the second half, his right boot had been cut open and that shortly before the free kick he had to change footwear.
After a potential Christian Pulisic goal was disallowed in the 78th minute because he was offside, Tillman sent an overpowering shot up and over the wall from 21 yards to the upper left corner. The restart was set up when Sergino Dest drew a yellow card as Stjepan Radeljic grabbed his shirt.
"I know some guys doubted me to go over the wall, but I practiced this in training," Tillman said. "You never know when it's going to happen, but luckily today it happened and now I was ready for it. I was very confident, and now I'm happy it went in."
Balogun gave the U.S. a 1-0 halftime lead with a wicked spin and shot from the top of the box. He followed a formula that worked in the first match against Paraguay when he had an early goal reversed because of an offside call before putting one on the scoreboard that stuck.
This time, he was offside in the 31st minute, but he would not be denied 14 minutes later. The U.S. kept its defensive shape, pinning Bosnia and Herzegovina deep, resulting in a giveaway that led to the ball pinging off Bosnian defender Tarik Muharemovic.
Balogun ran onto the loose ball, stopped, turned to his left and fired in his third goal of the tournament.
A few minutes later in first-half stoppage time, Balogun pounded a shot off the crossbar from a pass by Sergino Dest.
The match took an ominous turn for the U.S. early in the second half when Balogun was issued a straight red card. When challenging for a header, his right foot landed on Muharemovic's left ankle.
There was no foul called initially, but referee Raphael Claus reviewed the play and issued the red card.
When play resumed, the U.S. refused to back down while playing smart and composed for the most part.
"We had to dig deep for that one," Pulisic said. "Obviously, I felt we put on such a good performance and didn't deserve the red card. I mean, I didn't see it, but it's unfortunate. But for us to dig in deep like that and just to get another goal and to defend the way we did took a real team effort."
Balogun became the first player to score and be red-carded in a World Cup knockout-phase match since France's Zinedine Zidane tallied and was sent off in the 2006 championship match vs. Italy.
"For me, never was it a red card," U.S. coach Mauricio Pochettino said. "(After that,) I thought that is a moment that we need to be a team. We need to show that we are a team. I could see in the eyes of the players as a coach we are ready to go and to fight, and that's amazing."
