“Success can’t be bought,” Barcelona manager Hansi Flick likes to say. “It’s rented. And every day the rent is due.”
The U.S. men’s national team managed to keep up its down payments on glory for the opening three weeks of the tournament before a humbling 4–1 defeat to Belgium in the round of 16. Yet, it could be argued that the true success of the summer, capturing the imagination and affection of the U.S. public as well as the wider world, was ended one day earlier.
