Cape Verde became the smallest country to reach the World Cup knockout stage, playing Saudi Arabia to a 0-0 draw to finish second in its group. Elsewhere on an eventful Day 16, Ousmane Dembélé scored three first-half goals and France cruised past Norway 4-1 to finish comfortably atop its group, with Les Bleus looking like the best team in the tournament. Senegal routed Iraq 5-0 and the blowout could help it move past the group stage. Spain won its group and eliminated Uruguay with a 1-0 victory.
The USA fell to Turkey in their final group stage game, however their performances leading up were good enough to win them the group. The winning goal came in the final kick of the match, but head coach Mauricio Pochettino had a message for the doubters, “What we need to remember is we won first place in this group,” Pochettino added while speaking in Spanish and English. “We ended up being No. 1, and we managed all the pressure and the expectations quite well. We had other priorities. We wanted to win. We did want the victory, but there are other things we needed to balance out, and that’s how I made the decisions. … Making history is winning the World Cup, not just winning the group. It’s a little bit petty, if you will. You’re thinking just a little bit too small.”
The US will face off with Bosnia Herzegovina on Wednesday night in the knockout stage at 7:00 PM on FOX.
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