AL RAYYAN, Qatar — World Cups can end abruptly. After years of planning and development, months of buildup and anticipation and then the vivid intensity of the tournament itself, the plug is pulled, and it’s over in a blink.
Within a few hours of Saturday night’s round-of-16 loss to the Netherlands, U.S. men’s national team staffers who had been planning for a longer stay here in Qatar were arranging flights home. There was a dinner at the team hotel on The Pearl in northeast Doha—Saturday’s game was the Americans’ first that didn’t kick off at 10 p.m.—and by Sunday morning, several players were already headed to the airport. Some more flew out Monday.
That sudden and demoralizing deceleration can make it difficult to collect your thoughts or draw broad conclusions. Coach Gregg Berhalter certainly wasn’t ready to do that on Saturday at the Khalifa International Stadium, where he spoke for the final time at this World Cup.
