Last night's match felt so much like our big games under him.
I would suppose multiple days of opponent prep was done without Balogun and then...that was all thrown out but then the team had only Sunday's practice to prepare?
Maybe I am overcomplicating things? I guess on the flip side Belgium prepared for us without.
And faced a proper opponent? The sugar high from the recent performance against some minnows and with that over the top expectations played a role. The entire tournament with expanded field and knockout rounds is so diluted.
Is Senegal that much more talented than the USMNT?
To me last night looked more like we were out played rather than over matched. I think the U.S. team has the horses finally to compete with a team like Belgium. That being said the team didn’t have the energy and intensity early which you can’t lack against a quality opponent.
Watching Belgium last night it wasn’t that they did anything spectacular. They were a solid team, didn’t wilt under pressure or shrink from the moment and were able to capitalize on U.S. mistakes and lackadaisical play.
They had a very rough night.
The surrounding vibe of his reinstatement clearly didn't help.
A deflating debacle of this magnitude has many causes.
He's not even in the 2nd tier of top world players like the Belgium kid tonight.
The extra controversy undoubtedly did the US more harm than good.
Meanwhile, that was the most motivation I have seen from Belgium in a long time. Normally they toy with their opponents before some last minute heroics. Today they were locked in ... something had given them extra focus.
Belgium looked better tonight, but still...
There are 3 collar counties outside Chicago w/ larger populations than Cabo Verde and a fourth w/ a similar population. Their GK isn't on a roster, yet he outclassed ours in the WC. Their manager has never coached outside CV. Their spectacular tying goal was scored by a player who had recently been in Germany's third division. They went to to toe w/ Argentina in a de facto road game. They also tied Spain.
I had been waiting for years for USMNT to have a chance like this to elevate the team internationally and the sport in the US. At my age, I don't know if I'll see a better chance than this one.
First, it’s super shitty to cherry pick the golden team of the tournament, but if you’re going to do so, you’ve got to at least acknowledge that Spain and Argentina were sleep walking through their matchups with an overmatched opponent whereas Belgium used the political bullshit to come out blazing like they haven’t the rest of this tournament against a (less, but still) overmatched opponent.
game before a passionate home crowd and nearly ended their all-time legend's international career. Perhaps Spain sleep walked in group opener, but it shouldn't have mattered.
Full agreeance as to Belgium using political BS to come out blazing.
CV had visibly superior goalkeeping to US in this WC.
US #17, Belgium #9 as of 6/11/26, the last official rankings. So #9 beat #17 today. Unsurprising, but the manner in which #17 played was unacceptable.
Yes, I'll keep saying that Belgium has far more pure talent than the US, but not by a 5-2 or a 4-1 scoreline.
Other than Malik Tillman, no one played with any conviction. They just looked scared.
and gave Germany a real battle. Never thought it would be 24 years and counting for a return.
They didn't play scared against anyone.
I'm sorry that there will be no further reason to discuss USMNT. I was honestly expecting the run to last until Friday w/ a buildup of epic proportions.
A lot went right that tourney (but that’s another post for another day.)
But yeah, we’ve plateaued the last 20 years
So on one hand I think the overall attacking talent is wider and deeper. On the other, goalkeeping and defense is not - which given that defenders and goalkeeper mature later is not surprising
What is really worrisome is the mental softness creeping into the program. This was a mentally soft performance for almost the whole game. They did not respond well to taking a punch.
…mindless errors that led to three of their goals. Unbelievable.
Pulisic was useless the whole tournament. Dest too.