Mauricio Pochettino didn’t sugarcoat it after the USMNT got knocked out of the World Cup by Belgium on Monday night. The scoreline said enough: 4-1. But the way it happened stung even more.
“We never were with the flow of the game,” Pochettino told reporters, including Andrew Greif. “Today we were not the same team in the tournament that showed our quality.”
He wasn’t wrong. The U.S. had rolled through Group D and then beat Bosnia in the Round of 32 for the program’s first knockout win since 2002. For a little while, it looked like Pochettino’s project—something he took over in 2024—might deliver the kind of World Cup run American soccer has been chasing for decades.
Then Belgium happened.
Defensive lapses cost the U.S. against a clinical Belgium side
The Americans had been solid defensively through most of the tournament. But against Belgium, the breakdowns came in bunches. Missed assignments, slow reactions, bad turnovers in dangerous areas. Belgium made them pay every time. Four goals, basically one per defensive mistake.
Pochettino didn’t single anyone out publicly. He didn’t have to. The tape will do that work for him. But the bigger question is what comes next for a team that clearly has talent—Folarin Balogun finished as the team’s leading scorer with three goals in his first World Cup—but can’t seem to get past this stage.
What’s next for Pochettino and this U.S. group
The USMNT finishes this World Cup with three wins and two losses. They scored 12 goals total, conceded eight. The wins over Paraguay, Australia, and Bosnia were convincing. But the losses to Turkiye (3-2) and now Belgium leave a sour taste. Good enough to beat the teams they should beat. Not good enough yet against the real threats.
Malik Tillman chipped in two goals during the tournament. Giovanni Reyna and Auston Trusty each scored one. But beyond Balogun, there wasn’t enough consistent firepower when it mattered most.
The next big step is the 2030 World Cup qualifying cycle. That tournament will be split across Morocco, Spain, and Portugal, with special centennial matches in Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay. The U.S. won’t be hosting this time, so the road gets harder.
Pochettino will have to decide if this roster needs a real shake-up or just more time together. Balogun looks like a legitimate No. 9 to build around. But the defense? The midfield depth? Those are open questions now. And they don’t get answered in one press conference.
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