The U.S. men’s national team came home from the 2026 World Cup earlier than they’d hoped. Monday’s Round of 16 matchup against Belgium turned into a 4-1 rout that exposed just how far this group still has to go. But you wouldn’t know it from listening to Mauricio Pochettino.
The manager stood firm in his postgame interview with FOX Sports’ Jenny Taft. No finger-pointing. No second-guessing the controversial decision to let Folarin Balogun play after FIFA overturned his red card suspension from the Bosnia and Herzegovina match. Just a steady message about family and process.
“The emotion cannot change how we see things,” Pochettino said. “But I feel very proud. We make proud the whole country. And that is only the beginning.”
A Game That Got Away Fast
For about 15 minutes, things actually looked promising. Malik Tillman curled in a beautiful free kick to level the score after Belgium opened the scoring early. The crowd at the stadium felt it. Maybe this was the moment.
Then Belgium came right back down the pitch and scored on the very next attack. That’s the kind of gut punch that breaks a team’s spirit. And the USMNT never really recovered.
The second half was brutal. Goalkeeper Matt Freese made a costly error on Belgium’s third goal — the kind of mistake that gets replayed endlessly on highlight shows. Then defender Chris Richards gave the ball away cheaply near his own box, and Romelu Lukaku made him pay with a clinical finish for the fourth.
It was 4-1 before anyone could blink.
The Balogun Situation Still Stings
Let’s not pretend the red card reversal didn’t hang over this whole thing. Balogun got sent off against Bosnia and Herzegovina, and FIFA’s decision to overturn the suspension raised eyebrows across the soccer world. Pochettino started him Monday, but Balogun barely influenced the game. He looked like a player who maybe shouldn’t have been out there at all.
The team has not commented on whether the controversy affected their preparation. But fans online noted the irony — all that drama just to get steamrolled by a Belgian side that looked a class above from start to finish.
What Comes Next
This USMNT generation can absolutely hang with elite teams. We’ve seen it in friendlies and in stretches during competitive matches. But hanging with them and beating them are two different things, especially when the knockout rounds demand a level of composure this team still hasn’t fully developed.
Pochettino’s message about this being just the beginning felt genuine. He’s not wrong. The core is young. The home World Cup crowd gave them energy all tournament long. But there’s real work to do on the little things — decision-making under pressure, defensive discipline, not beating yourself before the other team does.
For now, Belgium moves on. The USMNT heads home with lessons that won’t be easy to swallow. Whether they actually learn them is the question that won’t get answered until 2030.
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