Талбайн эзэн АНУ-ын шигшээ баг шөвгийн 16-д Бельгид 4:1-ээр буулга авснаар тэмцээнээ өндөрлүүлж, чансааны ялгаа их байгааг харууллаа.
Даваа гарагт болсон тоглолтод Бельги тоглолтын эхнээс санаачилгыг гартаа авч, АНУ-ын хамгаалалт болон хаалгачийн сул талыг илт давуутай ашигласан юм. Кристиан Пулишич тоглолтын эхний 45 минутад 11 удаа бөмбөг алдаж, улмаар гэмтлийн улмаас талбайг чөлөөлсөн бол Сержиньо Дест, Тайлер Адамс нарын гол тоглогчид өрсөлдөгчөө тогтоож чадсангүй. Бельгийн тоглогч Доди Лукебакио өөрсдийн багийг илүүрхсэнийг шууд илэрхийлсэн бол дасгалжуулагч Маурисио Почеттино тоглолтын эхнээс л хүнд байсныг хүлээн зөвшөөрөв.
АНУ-ын хувьд Парагвай, Австрали, Босни зэрэг багуудыг хожиж, хөгжөөн дэмжигчдийн итгэлийг олсон ч жинхэнэ хүчирхэг өрсөлдөгчтэй тулгарах үедээ хүчгүйдэв. Өмнөх дөрвөн жилийн хугацаанд багийн бүрэлдэхүүн болон дасгалжуулагчийн түвшинд өөрчлөлт хийсэн ч үр дүн нь 2022 оны Дэлхийн аваргаас ахисангүй.
Тоглолтын дараа Кристиан Пулишич дэлхийн шилдэг багуудтай өрсөлдөхийн тулд дараагийн шатны бэлтгэл сургуулилт дутагдаж байгааг онцолсон юм. Багийн ахлагч Тим Рим болон Фоларин Балогун нар тэмцээний үр дүнд сэтгэл дундуур байгаа ч хөлбөмбөгийг улс орондоо сурталчилж, хөгжөөн дэмжигчдийг нэгтгэж чадсанаа онцлохыг уриаллаа.
Дэлгэрэнгүй эх сурвалжийг харах
Эх сурвалжийг нээх ↓
SEATTLE — Not for the first time, it ended with disappointment and an important reality check.
Monday night’s 4-1 loss to Belgium in the World Cup round of 16 sent the U.S. men’s national team crashing out of the tournament. The Americans galvanized a nation with wins over Paraguay, Australia and Bosnia. Those were games they should have won. But on the biggest stage in program history, against a talented Belgium team, they simply looked out of place and out of their depth.
As French World Cup winner Thierry Henry put it on Fox’s postgame set: “Levels. You didn’t play Bosnia. You didn’t play the teams you played in the group stage. Levels.”
Four years ago, the U.S. walked off a field in Qatar after a loss to the Netherlands that exposed the gap between them and the world’s best teams. The go-to word that night in Doha was “potential.” It was a young team. Imagine what it could look like in four years.
“The potential is just huge going into this next cycle,” Tim Ream said then.
“Potential is just potential,” Tyler Adams said that night. “But we could see that, if we maximize it in the right way, it can be something good.”
But potential must be pushed, harnessed and developed in order to turn into something more. And no one runs a race in which all the other opponents stand still. Four years later, this time on a bigger stage, with home-field advantage and a team in its prime rather than its infancy, the disappointment of this last-16 exit stings worse.
Worse than it did in 2022. And 2014. And 2010.
Because this one was supposed to be different. It was a “golden generation” and a home World Cup. It was the team that would change American soccer forever. The opportunity was there to convert non-fans into believers. To inspire the next generation and push the sport forward. We saw the potential in sold-out stadiums in Los Angeles, Seattle and Santa Clara, and in the record TV audiences.
Instead, the U.S. was knocked out again in the same round —and in worse fashion than any of those previous World Cups.
Dejected USMNT captain Tim Ream walks off the field after defeat to Belgium (Blake Dahlin / Imagn Images / Reuters)
Hopefully now, rather than talk about potential, we can reflect on production. This team didn’t take enough steps between the last World Cup and this one. It wasn’t a team far better than the one we watched four years ago in Qatar. There were glimmers of something against lesser opponents. The U.S. played some fun, attacking soccer with the energy of those packed stadiums behind them, but ultimately wilted against the first top opponent it faced.
“I think we put on some really good performances, for sure,” Christian Pulisic said. “We made it through our group in quite a dominant fashion, and then we won the game against Bosnia. We can be proud of that. But I just think we want to have higher hopes than that. We want to be able to go and compete with some of the best in the world. And we just still have that next step to climb.”
Levels.
It is clear after Monday night that there is still an enormous talent gap the U.S. has to overcome. The weaknesses on the roster at center back and goalkeeper — issues that were not a secret going into the tournament —were exposed against a Belgium team that truly challenged them. Even the U.S.’s best players struggled mightily. Pulisic lost possession 11 times in 45 minutes, the most of any player on the field. He eventually left injured with a rolled ankle. Sergiño Dest was ineffective on the right and removed at halftime. Adams won just two of seven ground duels and was dribbled past three times.
Tyler Adams, Antonee Robinson and Weston McKennie react to USMNT’s loss to Belgium with long stares (Albert Gea / Reuters)
Nothing went right. Belgium asserted itself from the start. It played faster. It had the U.S. flustered and making mistakes. The Red Devils never looked even a tiny bit threatened.
“We just showed that we were better,” Dodi Lukébakio said, bluntly.
U.S. coach Mauricio Pochettino was left looking for reasons. In the end, he reached the same conclusion as Lukébakio.
“We were not good enough today,” he said. “We don’t need to find another excuse. Belgium were better than us. That’s it. It’s very clear. It was really tough from the beginning. We didn’t show what normally the team will show — and that is the reality.
“I think we need to learn. It’s a process to learn. We need to assess that game, and we need to see why we didn’t approach the game in the same way as the rest of the World Cup.”
Pochettino was supposed to be one of the things that put this team over the top. He was the biggest change — alongside the addition of Folarin Balogun —from the 2022 cycle to the 2026 cycle. U.S. Soccer spent millions to bring in a world-class manager in order to ensure it got the best out of a group it believed was different than any that came before. Pochettino challenged the status quo and may have squeezed some more juice out of the fruit, but, in the end, there were answers he couldn’t conjure for this pool and other decisions he got wrong. In the biggest game of his national team tenure, his team was run off its home field.
Malik Tillman can only crouch and give a longing stare while Belgium celebrates a goal (Jane Gershovich / ISI Photos / Getty Images)
The U.S. lost to Belgium 12 years ago in the same stage by a score of 2-1 after extra time. The Americans lost to Ghana 2-1 in extra time in 2010. It was a 3-1 loss to the Netherlands in Qatar.
The 4-1 loss on Monday, despite all the perceived progress that came before it, felt like a step backwards.
This U.S. performance stood apart because of its naivete. The Americans lacked the fight that has been such a hallmark of the program. They looked less committed to winning the areas a U.S. team has to win if it’s going to have a fighting chance in these types of games.
“In terms of lessons, it’s just to keep being who we are, regardless of the opponent, keep being the high-pressing, dynamic, American way,” Sebastian Berhalter said. “The team that doesn’t give up, the team that’s aggressive. And maybe we lost sight of that a little bit tonight.”
Country Roads ahead of U.S. vs. Belgium
Henry Bushnell
The question is what, if anything, will change after this World Cup? There were genuinely fun and good memories created in the last few weeks. The hope has to be that the positives of the fan engagement will linger. That the people who tuned in for the first time will stick around for more. That the letdown of the Belgium loss won’t completely undo the movement the team was creating before that.
“I know it hasn’t ended the way we wanted it to, but … we’ve definitely united the nation and we’ve introduced a lot of people to the beautiful game,” Balogun said. “So that’s a huge positive to not be overlooked.”
Added Ream: “I don’t think that the conversation should die down. I think it should be (about) how incredible this journey has been with this group. (And) how can we keep the conversation going? How can we continue to inspire (the next generation) now that the tournament is over?”
The next part will be harder. American soccer has a tendency to act as if it can simply speak something into existence. That if it talks long enough about potential, it’ll simply turn into progress. Or that if you say you want to be one of the world’s best, and if you repeat it enough times, you’ll simply get there over time.
It doesn’t work that way.
It was a long day in the midfield for USMNT star Tyler Adams (John Todd / ISI Photos / Getty Images)
This loss to Belgium showed how much more there is to be done. Changing the mentality around the program is important, but the loss Monday also showed that the U.S. still has to stay rooted in the reality of where it is in the journey. Everything around American soccer has to improve, from the youth system to MLS to the national team programs.
Pochettino has said this tournament the U.S. had to follow a mantra of “Work. Believe. Compete.” This tournament is a reminder of how much the first leg of that cycle matters. The teardown that started after the qualifying debacle in Trinidad nine years ago hasn’t been built up enough yet. The U.S. is still a long way from where it needs to be to truly compete.
Monday’s loss to Belgium was a critical reminder that while it’s nice to aim high and try to touch the moon, as Pochettino likes to say, sometimes it’s just as important to look down and see that your feet are still on earth — and that there’s a lot left to do down here. Otherwise, four years from now won’t be any different.
