USA captain Tim Ream has admitted that his side have always struggled to get the same sort of support that other nations have received during home games.
The co-hosts topped their group and were pitted against Bosnia and Herzegovina in San Francisco.
A sold-out crowd was there, with the majority cheering on the USA, but it hasn’t always been like that according to Ream.
Tim Ream says other nationalities don’t care about the USA
Immigrants from all over the world move to the USA for a better life and therefore make it an attractive proposition for their nations to come and play there.
Bosnia and Herzegovina has a diaspora of around 350,000 in the country but Ream believes that it has directly affected their chances of having a pro-US crowd for games in the past.
He told Football Daily: “We have always struggled to have a pro US crowd. We’re a nation of immigrants and when we play teams, there are so many people from all over the world who live here and who want to see their national team play.
“The crowds have just grown and grown and we feel that buzz, that excitement and energy. It’s like playing in the UK – you have the home support and if you’re not playing well, they’re going to be a little bit irritable and they’ll let you know.
“It’s the same here, it’s feeling their buzz and their energy behind us from the whistle and that’s a big thing for us in this World Cup.”
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