The U.S. Men’s National Team are proud of its earlier achievements at the 2026 FIFA World Cup but know there is still plenty of work to do. Mauricio Pochettino’s side are continuing their preparations for Wednesday’s Round of 32 clash with Bosnia & Herzegovina in San Francisco. The Americans suffered their first loss of the competition, a 3-2 defeat at the hands of Turkey last Thursday, but won Group D regardless thanks to their earlier pair of victories against Paraguay and Australia. USMNT forward Folarin Balogun admitted he can sense the difference in the team’s training camp in Irvine, California, knowing the stakes are getting higher each day.“I can feel the difference in just the atmosphere,” Balogun told reporters from camp on Sunday. “It’s knockout football, so you lose, you go home. So for me, there’s a change in my mindset and mentality as well.“Not that I wasn’t taking it seriously before, but you can just go into another gear because you want it more,” he added. “I don’t want the journey to end.”The USMNT delivered two positive performances against the Paraguayans and Australians earlier this month, but showed some weary signs against Turkey, albeit with nine changes made to the starting lineup. Balogun did not feature against Turkey, earning a rest from Pochettino, along with Tyler Adams, Antonee Robinson, and Chris Richards, all of whom who were in jeopardy of being suspended if they received a yellow card in the match. Balogun was not part of the USMNT setup during their run to the Round of 16 at Qatar 2022, but believes past World Cup involvements shouldn’t dictate what the team is capable of achieving now.“It’s crunch time,” Balogun said. “This is the business end and this is the stage where, in my opinion, the big players step forward and the big players carry the pressure and make things happen.“From my personal experience, the best way to break history is not to think about what hasn’t been done, just to think about what you need to do,” he added. “Just to think about what needs to be done in order to progress.”History is not on the USMNT’s side as they prepare for the Round of 32.The Americans have won just one of nine all-time knockout stage matches in their World Cup history, a 2-0 victory over CONCACAF rivals Mexico 24 years ago. In addition, the USMNT’s last win against a European opponent came against Bosnia & Herzegovina back in December 2021, with only three players on the current roster being part of that match [Matt Freese, Ricardo Pepi, Auston Trusty].Despite their struggles against European opposition, USMNT fullback/wingback Sergino Dest believes the experience in the roster should help in a do-or-die moment. “We all are a little bit older. We’ve got a lot of more experienced players at the moment,” Dest said. “We also got some new players, but I feel like everybody’s really confident, and it helps if you win the first two games and you get the first in the group. We just have a lot of belief that we can do it.”Co-hosts Canada booked its spot into the Round of 16 thanks to a 1-0 victory over South Africa on Sunday and the USMNT will aim to follow-suit in three days time.