After being chastened 3-2 by Türkiye on Thursday night, the U.S. men's team learned their next round opponent would be Bosnia and Herzegovina. That posed a bit of a problem for ABC7's Abigail Velez.
Source: TalkSport
Many Americans -- at least those outside of the USMNT camp -- are confident that Bosnia will pose no issue to their goal of advancing to the round of 16 and potentially further, especially that of ABC7 reporter Abigail Velez.
In a clip, which has since gone viral, Velez boasted that she didn't even know where Bosnia was on the map.
"In the next round, Team USA will play Bosnia next Wednesday. And, one thing about Bosnia [is that] I could not point out where it is on a map," Velez said on air.
"I don't know the first thing about Bosnia, and I don't want to know."
"That's because Team USA, we're back, we're better than ever. Get prepared, Bosnia, because you don't want it. You don't want it like that. But you're gonna get it."
While the reporter was unfamiliar with Bosnia, the NBA has thrived off a talent pipeline that has included that of Bojan Bogdanović, Jusuf Nurkić, and Dragan Bender.
The Bosnians were not amused.
UPDATE: She has now apologized, presumably to keep her job (that she's had for less than a year).
— Abigail Velez (@abc7abigail) June 27, 2026
Bosnia's reaction.
My goodness, the stereotypes write themselves……🤷♂️ #FIFAWorldCup 🇧🇦🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/UGj3uudcYL
— Bosnian Football (@BosniaNTBall) June 27, 2026
