SEATTLE — When Malik Tillman was little, too young to be thinking about his future, he went through a phase of wanting to be a goalkeeper.
He and his brother, Timothy, would practice free kicks all the time, one shooting and the other in goal. During these months — sometime between the ages of 7 and 9, by his brother’s estimation — Malik would volunteer to play goal more often.
It didn’t take long for it to become obvious that his future lay elsewhere.
“No one wanted us to be in goal,” Timmy Tillman told The Post. “They all said, ‘No, you better stay on the field.’ ”
It’s a good thing Malik listened, and a good thing he kept working on shooting free kicks instead of stopping them. The shot he curled in to seal the U.S. national team’s Round of 32 win over Bosnia-Herzegovina on Wednesday marked what is so far the signature moment of the World Cup as it readies for Monday night’s Round of 16 match against Belgium.
Standing over the ball before taking the kick, Tillman, Antonee Robinson and Tyler Adams talked about the best way to approach it. Robinson expected the wall to jump and thought Tillman should go underneath it.
From so close to the box, getting it over and back down would be highly challenging anyway.
Tillman knew, though, that he could — and for good measure, the wall didn’t jump.
“I know some guys doubted me that I could go over the wall,” Tillman said. “But I practiced this in training.”
His first World Cup goal only put an exclamation mark on what has, quietly, been a standout competition so far for the 24-year-old. The image of Tillman after the match, his sock bloody after a defender’s cleat went through it, prompting a midgame change, was as defining as anything has been over the past month.
“Try to convince him to put some rubbing alcohol on it, he’s like no chance,” Weston McKennie said. “But, amazing finish. He’s worked on that in training.”
“It’s just pain, I guess,” Tillman said. “Nothing too bad.”
Just two months ago, Tillman was struggling for minutes over the final stretch of what was already a taxing first season at Bayer Leverkusen in Germany’s Bundesliga. He easily could have taken it poorly when informed by Mauricio Pochettino that he would be playing in central midfield at the World Cup, deeper than his usual attacking midfield spot.
Instead, he has thrived in the role he’s been given. He’s played a key role in the team’s buildup and ball movement. He picked up an assist against Paraguay, and the touch of a Bosnian defender’s foot prevented him from notching a second on Folarin Balogun’s opener Wednesday.
He’s dutifully worked on the defensive end too.
Tillman cuts a quiet figure, speaking in a low voice and sounding reluctant to be too self-congratulatory. Don’t take that for him not caring.
“I’d argue, other than goals, he’s been our best player everywhere on the field,” captain Tim Ream said. “Doing the dirty things, but then also making the hard things look easy. And I think he just wanted to feel like he had a place.
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“He’s a quiet kid, but he’s just come on leaps and bounds. I think the Gold Cup [last summer] was really huge. I think the adversity of the Costa Rica game penalty [miss] — now you look at him and he looks like a completely different player. It’s incredible to see. He’s had that in him all this time, it was just a matter of him finding the confidence and believing in himself.”
At times last season, the belief didn’t come easily. Tillman went from having a locked-in spot in the squad at PSV Eindhoven in the Netherlands’ Eredivisie, where he scored 16 times in 2024-25, to a harder league and tougher internal competition.
He and his brother, who plays for LAFC, talk weekly to catch up. It’s not always a conversation about soccer, but late this season, Timmy felt compelled to give Malik some advice.
“I think it’s been pretty much the first setback in his young career, this year at Leverkusen. He wasn’t always the happiest,” Timmy said. “But I spoke to him towards the end of this season. I just told him to prepare as well as possible for the World Cup. The World Cup is always a big chance for every player who’s playing there.”
Good advice, it turned out.
“He worked hard, I guess,” Timmy said. “Got ready for the moment and now is just living it.”
