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Ryan Tolmich
Jul 08, 2026 06:55+08:00
Matt Freese blunders, Christian Pulisic fades and motivated Belgium expose USMNT - Five ways it all went wrong for the Americans in World Cup exit
Analysis | USA World Cup | FEATURES | USA vs Belgium | Belgium
The team's World Cup exit wasn't defined by a singular moment, but by a series of factors that doomed them on the day
SEATTLE -- Before getting into it, a little bit of truth: it’s a little silly to overcomplicate this type of postmortem on the U.S. men's national team's loss to Belgium. It's like trying to break down the physics of someone getting hit by a train. There are details worth discussing, sure, but the larger point is pretty obvious: they got hit by a damn train.
That is the best way, metaphorically, to describe the USMNT's World Cup exit. It was sudden and painful, but it wasn’t random. Everything seemed to be going well until, all at once, it wasn’t. One by one, the USMNT's building blocks eroded, resulting in a 4-1 loss that really wasn't even that close.
You don't lose 4-1 because you got a detail or two wrong; you lose like that because the other team is better. That is the simple reality, as hard as it will be for the USMNT to accept. Even manager Mauricio Pochettino acknowledged it.
"Belgium were better than us, and that's it. This was very clear," Pochettino said.
That's why the USMNT is heading home, and Belgium is heading to Los Angeles for the next step in their journey.
But how were they better? How did it all go so wrong for the USMNT? GOAL takes a look...
Playing afraid
Everyone tried to offer an explanation as to why the USMNT looked so flat, but sometimes the best explanation is the most obvious one: they felt the pressure.
"I wish I had the answer right now," Tyler Adams said when asked about why things crumbled. "I don't know."
With over 30 million watching at home, including countless critics rooting for this team's downfall, they folded. It's the easiest way to explain what happened in this game. It explains why there were so many mistakes, both big and small. The mistakes were physical, but the shortcomings were mental.
Was it the result of the moment? Was it the nerves of playing a team that beat them like a drum a few months ago? Was it the White House involvement, the social media reaction, or the sudden realization that the team had shifted from lovable to controversial? It doesn't really matter, does it?
In the end, it all proved too much for this team to shoulder. Given all of the pressures, you can understand why that might be, but that doesn't make it feel any better.
Stars never got going
If there's anything learned from this summer, it's that stars define the World Cup. Look at the teams thriving in this tournament, and you won't be surprised by the names pushing them to thrive. For your team to win at a World Cup, your best players can't just play at their level; they have to raise it.
That didn't happen for the USMNT. Christian Pulisic, the face of this team, lost the ball a total of 11 times. Then, moments after Belgium made it 3-1, he had to come off with an injury. Pulisic, a top talent, was never able to galvanize this team. In truth, he never made much of an impact at all.
"I trust in the guys no matter what, and we believe until the end," Pulisic said. "Yeah, it sucked this tournament with one earlier and then another like injury now. Yeah, it sucked. It was tough. It was difficult for me to deal with."
Pulisic wasn't alone, of course. Balogun, the man of the moment, never got involved. Weston McKennie, who ran the show so much in midfield in the first four games, looked totally off the pace as he misplaced passes and found himself in the wrong places. Even Chris Richards, this team's defensive rock, made that backbreaking error to close the game.
Those might just be the USMNT's four best players. None of them performed. You can't win like that. Stars need to set the tone and, when that tone is "bad", that's how a team falls apart.
Defensive miscues
Through nearly all of the summer, the USMNT's defense had actually been quite good. It was pegged as a weakness leading up to this tournament, but it hadn't been - conceding one goal in the three games the team played with its full lineup.
Then it all happened at once. No one escapes blame. Sergino Dest, playing as a winger/wing back, had the worst game of his USMNT career, and his failure to clear a bouncing ball on Belgium's first goal will haunt him. Tim Ream, so steady as this team's captain, finally had not one but a few wobbles that ended in goals. Antonee Robinson never looked truly composed, and Richards, as mentioned, made a mistake unlike any he's ever made.
Those around them did them no favors, of course. The USMNT midfield offered very little, and the press from the front was generally played through with ease. In this game, the first one that saw the USMNT play a team that could actually play, the defense wilted.
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'This moment hurts'
This one gets separated, not because it was worse than the others necessarily, although it was bad. No, Matt Freese's blunder is in its own category because that was the moment that the dream died.
The USMNT responded well enough to Belgium's first goal, getting one of their own from Malik Tillman. Even with the second, the U.S. came out with some energy after halftime, at least partially due to the introduction of Gio Reyna. In those first few minutes of the second half, the USMNT was down a goal, but they had hope. The longer that remained true, the more potential there was for momentum to build.
And then that hope died in an instant. With Freese's misplay, the life got sucked out of whatever the USMNT were building. Belgium went up 3-1, Pulisic went to the bench with his injury, and in truth, there was no way back. It was grim before Freese's error; after it, the game was over.
"Obviously disappointed for my involvement in the error and judgment on the third goal," Freese said postgame. "It's part of the position. I know the guys in front of me did everything they could today to get the win, and I'm so proud of them. I wish that, obviously, that moment was different, and wish the result was different.
"This hurts. This moment hurts. This moment hurts more, stings more, than probably any other moment in my life."
A real (and motivated) opponent
Yes, the USMNT beat some good teams this summer. Belgium, though, were a different class. They may not be the best team left in this tournament, but they were clearly a level above the U.S.
In addition to their obvious talent, Belgium were seemingly galvanized pregame, too. They entered the Round of 16 seemingly somewhat fractured. They hadn't really performed well so far this tournament, their golden generation was aging out, and there were years-long rivalries and pain points within that group.
Suddenly, though, they were given something to unite against: the USMNT and the seemingly preferential treatment they'd received by FIFA. A team like Belgium doesn't need extra motivation, but it got some anyway. They entered the game determined, energized, and maybe feeling just a little bit overlooked.
"In recent days, we have been disrespected here in the United States," goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois said. "It was being said that they could beat us easily, but I think today we showed that we are a good team. We played a great match.
"I understand that they want to generate excitement around the United States, but today I had more confidence in our victory than against Senegal, which has a better team than the United States."
After the match, Belgium celebrated in their locker room by listening to "YMCA" and doing Donald Trump's signature dance. They earned the right to gloat, having proven that they were better than the USMNT in every way.