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You don’t attract a spotlight as bright as the one that had been following around the United States men’s national team throughout the World Cup and flop as tragically as they did in the Round of 16 against Belgium without there being plenty of public reaction.
And since much of that now is the product of attention-seeking professional media or the casually informed on social media, it’s inevitable a fair amount of that reaction will be best described as overreaction.
These are the five categories that produced the most verbiage to fit that description follow USMNT's 4-1 crashout on Monday, and how Sporting News columnist Mike DeCourcy and soccer expert Kyle Bonn assess each of them:
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Expectations were set too high for this USMNT team
DeCOURCY: There's no way the expectations for this United States team were too high because they weren’t extravagant in the least.
Only once in the modern era have they advanced to the quarterfinals. They lost in the Round of 16 in each of their three previous World Cups: 2010, 2014, 2022.
Although there might have been some optimistic folks taking the long-shot futures odds on the USMNT as World Cup 2026 winners, there can’t be any who seriously believed this team would make it all the way to “New York/New Jersey Stadium” for the final.
What expectations did exist for the team beyond the possibility of finally winning a Round of 16 game were created by their own performances: the 4-1 detonation of Paraguay, the 2-0 shutout of Australia, the mighty resolve they showed when playing nearly half an hour down a man after striker Folarin Balogun was ejected for a dubious red card. They looked like a team for which there should be no limits imposed.
And then they arrived on the field in Seattle and played without confidence, without connection, without aggression – without any of the positive qualities they’d displayed through winning all three games they contested with their full lineup.
Should this team have reached the quarterfinals?
Well, they definitely should have taken a better shot at it.
BONN: The expectations for this team were not out of proportion coming into the 2026 World Cup, and fans should not feel as though they over-hyped the USMNT. There was a genuine desire amongst the fanbase to see this “golden generation” pan out by improving the standing of the national team on a global scale and prove they could beat those in the upper echelon of the world ranking.
It’s not like this team was blasted by Ballon d’Or candidates or world-class superstars on Belgium. In fact, the two most notable stars on the Red Devils were benched for the majority of this match.
On the contrary, the expectations for the USMNT — to win a Round of 16 match against a fringe top-10 team to elevate the national team standing and prove to fans they can hope for an upward trajectory — was entirely reasonable. Anyone trumpeting that the U.S. could win the World Cup was off their rocker, but the majority of fans simply hoped for one signature win from the most talented U.S. team ever assembled.
The expectations were not too high. The players simply fell well short of the goal.
MORE: Ugly World Cup loss makes it hard to believe in future of USMNT
Christian Pulisic has been a World Cup disappointment
DeCOURCY: From the time he scored the only goal in the USMNT loss at Trinidad & Tobago that eliminated the Americans from qualifying for the 2018 World Cup, something always has been just a little off for Pulisic’s international career.
Two years after that came the pandemic that limited international competition, and the accelerated World Cup qualifying process for 2022 that led to nearly all USMNT games coming against North American opponents.
Even the goal he scored against Iran to advance the team out of group play at the 2022 World Cup, one of the big plays in American men’s soccer history, involved him taking a shot to the groin and being forced to leave before halftime.
He’s being identified as a villain in the dreadful USMNT performance against Belgium. Yeah, he’s one of them. But there wasn’t a single player among the starting group who even played at an average level. The Pulisic who opened the tournament against Paraguay, even playing with an injury, was dominant. The one who played against Bosnia and Herzegovina in the Round of 32 was exceptional. The one who played against Belgium looked like he would struggle to compete in Italy’s Serie B.
Pulisic is the most accomplished U.S. men’s player in history: contributor to a UEFA Champions League title, a Club World Cup crown, domestic cup championships in Germany and Italy. This was supposed to be his moment, though: a World Cup on home soil with a capable team around him.
He failed. But he didn’t fail alone.
BONN: It can be hard for fans to reconcile what they saw from Pulisic at the 2026 World Cup. The 27-year-old was meant to be the star of this team, in the prime of his career. He was, early on, the best player on the field for the United States both in the warm-up friendlies and in the opener against Paraguay. An injury saw him out of the Australia game, but when he returned, he was his old self again, looking bright first off the bench against Turkey and against in the starting lineup against Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Unfortunately, the Round of 16 lights proved too bright for Pulisic, who has squandered his biggest opportunity. It’s unfair to be too harsh on Pulisic after a game where everyone on the team was poor, but Pulisic never seemed like he grasped the chance to make a difference, both on and off the pitch.
Pulisic never asked to be the superstar on this team — and that was precisely the problem. He never seemed to delight in the spotlight, to want the pressure, to shoulder the weight of the nation. He felt, instead, like someone with that burden thrust upon him unwillingly. His lack of charm and reserved demeanor betrayed a player who did not seem to grasp the moment, even as he took the chance to appear in countless commercials.
Pulisic was no worse than anyone else in the loss to Belgium, but he also was the one meant to carry this team and this sport into the future, and to that end, he was not the savior that was promised.
MORE: The Best XI United States men's national team players of all time
Is youth soccer really to blame for USMNT's lack of World Cup progress?
DeCOURCY: The youth soccer development system in the United States is a problem. The cost to participate at a significant level in the pre-teen age groups can be exorbitant.
It’s worth noting, however, hockey is a terribly expensive sport in this country, perhaps even more so because of the cost of equipment and ice time. And the U.S. just won the Olympic gold medal.
Youth soccer development has become less expensive with the introduction of academies by Major League Soccer clubs. So this certainly is a better circumstance than existed, say, when the sport was so much less available to young players in the 1970s and 1980s, or even in the early part of this century when MLS was struggling too hard to survive to worry about the next generation.
Of the players on this World Cup team who grew up in the US, more than 70 percent spent development time in an MLS academy. So there should be progress. And there was. But that meek performance against Belgium makes it a challenge to discern it.
BONN: The scattered nature of soccer development in the United States remains a problem that does not have an easy solution. Pay-to-play obviously freezes out those who do not have the means to participate, but it is also not the only issue.
There are many other avenues for soccer development in the U.S. but that in and of itself presents a problem that requires addressing. The MLS academy system has improved considerably over the last decade as Major League Soccer tries to invest in its own youth development, but there are still plenty of clubs that do not prioritize their young players.
College soccer is not a desired pathway for many youngsters, since the age bracket of 18-22 is late for that kind of development, leaving the NCAA arena to those who have fallen through the cracks. And there is still no space for players with lesser means of access.
In a country of this scale, centralizing the process is nearly impossible, but U.S. Soccer has lots of work to do in the way of streamlining and modernizing youth development, as well as making it accessible for more players.
MORE: How Major League Soccer established foundation for USMNT (and others) at World Cup
USMNT simply lost to a better Belgium team
DeCOURCY: One of the bothersome elements of the Belgium defeat is the assumption the U.S. lost to a world power with substantially better players
On that night, sure, the Belgium players were so much better than those wearing U.S. jerseys.
But this is not the “golden generation” group of Eden Hazard, Toby Alderweireld and Vincent Kompany. Kevin De Bruyne and Romelu Lukaku still are involved, but it was the benching of De Bruyne that energized the Belgium squad after a poor group showing and a near-death experience in the Round of 32 against Senegal.
This Belgium team was run by a coach, Rudi Garcia, who got fired in less than half the season from his most recent club job at Napoli. The players who took the field were not world superstars.
The most established of the group, midfielder Youri Tielmans, is a significant contributor for Premier League contender Aston Villa. The player who scored two goals against the USMNT, striker Charles De Ketelaere, scored 3 goals in 31 games for Italy’s Atalanta. The player at the center of Belgium’s defense, Brandon Mechele, has played his entire career in Belgium’s Pro League A.
It’s a good team, and they played well. But they should not have been capable of dominating the U.S. through most of the game – and embarrassing them far too often.
BONN: The opposition was undoubtedly superior on the day, there is no question about that as Belgium defeated the U.S. soundly. Coupled with the similar drubbing back in March by a 5-2 score, and it’s impossible to argue that Belgium weren’t obviously better than the United States.
Yet this match still feels like it was there for the taking for the USMNT had they played their best game. They were absolutely capable of winning this match, against an opponent that had been largely poor so far in this tournament that featured players who were below Belgium’s usual standard. Their midfield had been poor, and their defense featured a mish-mash of players from across Europe. Kevin De Bruyne and Romelu Lukaku were both lacking the athleticism that once made them great, and Jeremy Doku started the match on the bench.
Belgium were better than the United States, both on the day and in general, but this was not some unassailable mountain the U.S. had no chance to climb.
MORE: What's next for Mauricio Pochettino and USMNT's coaching options?
Mauricio Pochettino got out-coached by Belgium's Rudi Garcia
DeCOURCY: Pochettino had a lot of work to do when he took over the USMNT in September 2024.
And he made sure to remind us all of that after the embarrassment of the Belgium game.
He decided it was important to rid the locker room of the entitlement that had seeped into the squad after the most prominent players had helped rescue previous coach Gregg Berhalter’s job. Pochettino accomplished this. He chose to take a long look at as many options as possible regarding who might fit into the World Cup roster, and at a variety of different ways they might be aligned.
The culture change and constant experimentation help explain why his overall record is an underwhelming 17W-12L-2D. That’s the worst record of any full-time coach since 1998 World Cup disaster Steve Sampson. His overall record wasn’t what this was about, though. It was about this tournament.
He succeeded in transforming this into a creative, attacking team that could create chances even against opponents committed to defending, but the first time they faced a squad eager to attack themselves, they not only failed at the basics, they lacked belief.
Would that be the next step if Pochettino remained? Or is best to move on and find someone equipped to deliver the entire package over the next four years?
BONN: There is no doubt that Pochettino has elevated U.S. Soccer in his time here. He was given a difficult task being installed less than two years before the World Cup, and has overhauled the federation during his time in charge, leaving the program in a much better place than it was before he arrived.
Pochettino’s tactical plan throughout this tournament was a positive for the USMNT, as they counter-pressed their opponents into oblivion on multiple occasions. His style played best against teams the U.S. was supposed to beat, as it established a dominance early and often which smaller sides could not handle.
However, when matched up against a superior opponent, the plan fell apart, and Rudi Garcia — a coach who has not been largely successful throughout his career, to the level of Pochettino at least — was able to sniff it out with ease. It must be said that Pochettino was soundly out-coached in the defeat to Belgium.
Garcia benched his stars to pack the midfield, out-muscling the athleticism of the U.S. with both physicality and numbers. From there, the U.S. plan fell apart as they were disjointed in possession and struggled to keep hold of the ball. That put their questionable back line at risk, and Belgium made them pay.
If Pochettino is given a full four-year cycle, he can likely implement a much more unbreakable plan, and build the federation up from the ground level, but he is not a magic bullet, and has improvements to make.
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