The USMNT is heading home early from the World Cup again. And this time, nobody’s in the mood for silver linings.
Belgium knocked the Americans out 4-1 at Seattle Stadium on Monday, sending the U.S. packing in the round of 16 for the fourth straight World Cup. Charles De Ketelaere put Belgium ahead in the ninth minute, and the U.S. spent the rest of the night chasing the game. Mark Tillman pulled one back, and Folarin Balogun was back in the lineup after FIFA lifted his suspension, but it didn’t matter. The team never looked like it believed it could win.
FOX Sports’ Alexi Lalas didn’t sugarcoat it.
“They picked the worst time to play their worst game,” Lalas said after the final whistle. “I think Mauricio Pochettino and the players would admit that.”
Lalas, a former USMNT defender himself, credited Belgium for handling the hostile crowd and the political noise around the Balogun situation. But he made it clear the loss was on the Americans.
“This was self-inflicted,” he said.
Lalas acknowledged the team won over fans during the tournament and brought new people into the fold. But he drew a line right there.
“There’s a part of me that says the time for moral victories is over,” Lalas said. “We’ve left something on the table here, and that to me is disappointing.”
Christian Pulisic took most of the heat on social media. The U.S. captain had a quiet game with zero shots on goal, and legends like Carli Lloyd and FOX Sports 1’s Nick Wright pointed at his lack of urgency. But this wasn’t just a Pulisic problem. The entire team looked flat. Sloppy passes. No spark. Bad decisions in transition.
“It’s gonna be disappointing to go out, but also in the way in which they went out,” Lalas said. “It was much more of a whimper than a roar.”
The result raises real questions about where this program goes from here. Pochettino was supposed to be the guy who took the U.S. past this ceiling. Instead, the same wall appears. The talent pool is deeper than it’s ever been, but the World Cup results aren’t changing. The U.S. has now lost its last four knockout matches by a combined 9-2. At some point, the conversation stops being about potential and starts being about results.
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