USMNT’s World Cup Run Ends in Disappointment After Belgium Defeat
U.S. men’s soccer managed to send the sport backwards quite a bit last night.
Not to say their valiant effort in the group stage was for naught, but history remembers the victorious. As they casually combed their way through to the Round of 16, the USMNT had to carefully thread the needle between being an underdog and mid-tier threat. The pride rose as their wins tasted sweet, and the competitors they beat doing well proved the value of those wins.
With confidence rising, only an “act of God” could slow their vibes.
With the USA’s most prominent goalscorer, Falorin Balogun, being handed a wrongful red card after an illegal VAR decision, the powers that be began working behind the curtain. Everything from Ronaldo’s Article 27 suspension lift in 2025 to President Trump making a phone call, the world was buzzing with anticipation.
This up-and-coming USMNT team had a chance to take down an established international team. The electricity was hard to ignore. Enough so for the USA’s opponent, Belgium, to begin to take offense.
Belgium has always had a strong team. However, everyone who keeps up with this sport knows they squandered their golden generation by not winning anything when they had the likes of Eden Hazard, Vincent Kompany, in-form Kevin De Bruyne, and Mousa Dembele.
Needless to say, the Belgians already came in with a chip on their shoulder. With the USA creating this much buzz by bringing back Balogun from suspension, Belgium wanted more than a chip — they wanted the whole bag.
All this tension was released at once, as immediately, the lights were certainly too bright for the USA.
The USMNT changed their strategy up for Belgium, not believing they had a true No. 9 striker, and instantly were bullied by the 6-foot-4 Charles De Ketelaere in the ninth minute.
Besides the set-piece wizardry by Malik Tillman, the USMNT looked like a dandelion in a tornado. From not communicating, to passes that went nowhere, absolutely zero offense, to blatant errors, it was apparent early that the USA had no chance.
The team we saw in Seattle on Monday night was not the same team we had seen the rest of the tournament. This was a team that clearly thought they had done enough to be gifted a win.
An absolute embarrassment of a performance that could not be replicated if tried.
Now that the USMNT’s World Cup aspirations are dead and gone once more, I can only ask myself the same question I always do when the USMNT spirals out of the World Cup every four years…
How good would the USA be if their best athletes played this sport?
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