There is no gentle way to frame it: the U.S. Men’s National Team was thoroughly outclassed Monday night.
What had opened as a rare chance to reach the quarterfinals for the first time in 22 years — helped along by the stunning reversal of star striker Folarin Balogun’s red-card suspension — unraveled into a nightmare. Belgium, despite waiting until the second half to introduce several of its top players, took full control and made the Americans look painfully similar to U.S. teams that have collapsed on big stages before.
The warning signs arrived almost immediately.
A disastrous defensive breakdown, with three U.S. defenders failing to clear a loose ball in the box, handed Belgium a goal inside the opening 10 minutes. The Americans briefly responded through a Malik Tillman set-piece equalizer, only to concede again just 61 seconds later.
Christian Pulisic struggled badly, giving the ball away 11 times. Sergine Dest was taken off at halftime after an ineffective first half. And Balogun, whose reprieve from a FIFA red card had triggered an international uproar, never looked close to finding the net.
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U.S. supporters, coming off 36 hours of heated online arguments with furious European fans over Balogun’s suspension, saw their optimism quickly evaporate and flooded X with frustration.
The U.S. men now face some serious reflection after Monday’s collapse. Head coach Mauricio Pochettino will inevitably shoulder a significant share of the criticism. Still, tactics alone cannot explain the baffling individual mistakes that directly contributed to at least two of the four goals conceded.
One way or another, the next four years suddenly feel very long.
