Malik Tillmans impressive free kick helps propel USMNT to Round of 16
SANTA CLARA, Calif.— Sometimes the loudest player on the pitch is the quietest player on the team.For 81 minutes, U.S.
midfielder Malik Tillman had covered nearly every blade of grass.He did what he has done throughout this World Cup: chase, press, recover possession and stitch together the American attack without asking for recognition.Then, with the U.S.
clinging to a one-goal lead and hanging on with 10 men after Folarin Balogun’s red card, Tillman authored the defining moment of his international career.His curling free kick in the 82nd minute soared over the Bosnia-Herzegovina wall.By the time it nestled into the top corner of the net, Tillman had covered something even bigger: every doubt that had followed him into this World Cup.After an uneven season with Bayer Leverkusen that tested his confidence, Tillman arrived at the World Cup determined to treat it as a fresh start.
The reinvention has been impossible to ignore.He entered the knockout match leading the Americans with 13 ball recoveries, ranking second with five chances created and already owning an assist for Balogun’s opener against Paraguay.
Those numbers merely confirmed what the eye had already seen: Tillman has become the engine of the U.S.midfield.His personality hasn’t changed.
His quiet demeanor hasn’t either.“No, not really,” Tillman said when asked whether he envisioned this becoming his World Cup moment.“I’ve been dreaming about this game.
Dreaming of taking a free kick and scoring a free kick.Like I said, I practiced them in training and I think today showed what I can do.”And what he can do is almost anything on the pitch, including rescuing the Americans and sending them into the Round of 16.“We were going through all the ways you can possibly take this free kick,” Tillman said of the conversation with his teammates before his sparkling goal.
“We talked about going under the wall.We talked about going to the side of the keeper.
We talked about going over ...