Good morning, I’m Dan Gartland. I’m honestly shocked at how different the U.S. looked last night compared to the rest of the tournament.
In today’s SI:AM:
🇺🇸 U.S. crashes out
🇵🇹 Ronaldo’s WC journey ends
☘️ Celtics’ post-Brown plans
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That was ugly
That’s the U.S. men’s national team we’re used to seeing.
The U.S.’s dream World Cup came to a screeching halt on Monday night with an embarrassing 4–1 loss to Belgium in the round of 16. The Americans were ineffective on offense and sloppy on defense. They never stood a chance.
Belgium set the tone early with a goal in the ninth minute by Charles De Ketelaere, and every time it appeared the U.S. might be getting back in the game, Belgium answered. The U.S. drew level with a beautiful free-kick goal by Malik Tillman in the 31st minute, but then Belgium added another just a minute later (from De Ketelaere again). The Americans had a few good chances late in the first half to equalize but couldn’t put them home. They had an energetic start to the second half, but then any hope of a U.S. comeback was effectively squashed when a horrendous blunder by American goalie Matt Freese led to a third Belgium goal in the 57th minute. Veteran Belgian striker Romelu Lukaku rubbed salt in the wound with an exclamation mark of a goal in stoppage time.
It was a horribly disappointing way for this team’s previously promising World Cup to end. The confident, talented team that had played so well earlier in the tournament was nowhere to be found, replaced instead by a bumbling, error-prone squad that was thoroughly outclassed by its opponent.
The pressure on this team was enormous, as it always is for a host nation at the World Cup. The hope heading into the tournament was that the U.S. would have its best men’s World Cup finish in its history, at least equalling the quarterfinal appearance in 2002. The confluence of hosting the World Cup and a roster full of promising players like Christian Pulisic, Weston McKennie, Tyler Adams and Folarin Balogun had raised expectations higher than they had ever been before.
Perhaps that pressure got to them on Monday night in Seattle. They certainly looked uneasy in the early going. But you also have to wonder how much of that uneasiness can be attributed to the team suddenly being thrust into an international controversy by President Donald Trump 36 hours before the game, when FIFA suspended Balogun’s red card ban after Trump’s personal appeal to FIFA president Gianni Infantino. Unlike when Trump barged into the NBA Finals with all the grace of Freese playing outside the 18-yard box and slept through the Knicks’ first loss in a month, there is no Game 4 for the USMNT to get back on track.
“It didn’t affect our performance. It’s not an excuse,” U.S. manager Mauricio Pochettino said of the Balogun controversy. “I think we were not good enough. It wasn’t our day. We didn’t perform in the way that we’re supposed to perform or show our quality. All that was happening around [with the Balogun situation], it was around us, but I think it wasn’t a situation that affected us in the group.”
Whatever the reason for the team’s poor play, Monday night’s loss will have U.S. fans spending the next four years wondering “What if?” The U.S. had a team composed primarily of players from the top European leagues playing a once-in-a-generation World Cup in front of home fans. It should have done better.
That isn’t to dismiss Belgium. The Belgians have a handful of players who are better than anyone on the U.S. roster (Thibaut Courtois, Jeremy Doku and Lukaku, to name a few), but they were unimpressive to this point in the tournament. They drew their first two games of the World Cup (against Egypt and Iran), earned a 5–1 win over New Zealand (the lowest-ranked team in the field) and then got run off the pitch by Senegal for most of their round of 32 match before pulling off a miracle comeback and prevailing in extra time. The Americans’ somewhat early exit from the tournament would have been easier to stomach if they’d at least made it a competitive game. To go out with a dud like that will leave a sour taste in the mouth until 2030.
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The top five…
… things I saw yesterday:
5. A nice defensive play by Rockies reliever Jimmy Herget to escape a jam in the 10th. (Herget gave up a walk-off single to the Dodgers’ Dalton Rushing in the 11th, though.)
4. Geraldo Perdomo’s homer where he swung so hard his helmet came off.
3. Natisha Hiedeman’s slick shot to beat the shot clock.
2. Malik Tillman’s free-kick goal, his second in as many games.
1. Ferran Torres’s perfect pass to set up Mikel Merino’s game-winning goal for Spain.
