SEATTLE – After all this, after all the promising performances and all the signs of progress, not to mention all that money paid to Mauricio Pochettino, the U.S. men’s national team is right back where it started.
Still one of the JV teams, not good enough to contend with the best.
The USMNT had a chance to put the world on notice at this World Cup, to make a run that would change the landscape of soccer in the United States for decades to come. Instead, it laid bare how much further it still has to go.
"I think we put on some really good performances for sure. We made it through our group quite dominant in fashion. We won the game against Bosnia. We can for sure be proud of that," Christian Pulisic said.
"But I just think we want to have higher hopes than that. We want to be able to go and compete with some of the best in the world, and we still have that next step to climb. But we are close.”
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Are they, though?
USMNT has same finish as four years ago
The United States were knocked out of the World Cup after a 4-1 defeat to Belgium in the last 16.
As they were four years ago in Qatar, the USMNT were outclassed in their round-of-16 game. A Belgium team that had looked so vulnerable, drawing with Iran and Egypt and needing two goals after the 85th minute just to get to extra time against Senegal, treated the Americans as if they were chew toys.
The swagger and class that had carried the USMNT through the first four games of the tournament were nowhere to be found. The U.S. men were tentative, sloppy and a step behind the entire game, while Belgium found that extra gear the top teams do when it’s win or go home.
"Was anyone a major presence on field today?" Tyler Adams responded when asked about Folarin Balogun’s lack of impact.
'We were not good enough' - USA head coach Pochettino on World Cup exit after losing 4-1 to Belgium
For all the good things the USMNT did at this tournament – winning two of the three group-stage games for the first time ever, winning a knockout-round match for the first time in 24 years and scoring the most-ever goals for a U.S. team at a World Cup – they finished no better than they did in their last three appearances.
The USMNT has still advanced beyond the round of 16 just twice, and one of those times came in the inaugural tournament in 1930.
"It was unlike any of the performances we've had this summer, to be honest. It's hard to say went wrong, but that just didn't feel like us out there today," Antonee Robinson said. "We didn't win any individual duels, really. We looked like we lacked energy, looked like we weren't as fluid as we have been.
"Just disappointed to lose a game not in the manner of how we've represented ourselves the rest of the time."
Matt Freese bites on his jersey following Monday’s loss to Belgium in the World Cup.
This team, this tournament, was supposed to be different.
US Soccer went all-in on this World Cup
Knowing how much was at stake in this World Cup, only the second one the United States has hosted, U.S. Soccer backed up the Brinks truck for Pochettino, who’d had a long track record of success as a European club coach. The thinking being he could make this Golden Generation of the USMNT into a contender and get America hooked on soccer in the process.
It worked. For a time.
Pochettino changed the USMNT’s culture – the closeness and confidence of this team was evident to anyone who spent more than five minutes around them – and had the Americans playing a more aggressive and attractive system. The days of having to rely on the counterattack were long gone.
The USMNT’s results leading into the World Cup were less than impressive; they lost to Panama – Panama! – and Canada in the Nations League last year, and got run around by Belgium and Portugal earlier this year. They came into the World Cup with an oh-for-eight streak against European teams.
But when the World Cup began, the Americans came out flying. The USMNT won its first two games in commanding fashion, and beat Bosnia and Herzegovina in the round of 32 despite playing the last 35 minutes with only 10 men.
Suddenly the entire country was singing "Country Roads" and Pochettino’s mantra of "Why not us?" didn’t seem so far-fetched, after all.
Alas.
Folarin Balogun of the U.S. looks dejected as he applauds fans after the match following their elimination from the World Cup.
"We've had so much faith and belief in each other, and we felt a nation coming together and getting a belief, too, and it feels like we let ourselves down," Robinson said. "It's beyond disappointing because it was there for us."
Now what?
So back to the drawing board the USMNT goes. Pochettino’s contract is up, and the Golden Generation is not long from becoming the Silver Generation. Whether the hold the USMNT had on the American public for the first half of the tournament has a lasting impact won’t be known for years.
"We knew what kind of impact we would be able to have as long as we played well and the performances were there and we were winning games. Obviously that all comes to a halt now, but I don't think the conversation changes," captain Tim Ream said.
Tim Ream of the U.S. looks dejected after the match following their elimination Monday from the World Cup.
"I'm sure people will say, 'Oh, it now is going to die down.' But if you look at what we've done, I don't think that the conversation should die down," Ream added. "I think it should be how incredible this journey has been with this group. How can we keep the conversation going? Those boys and girls, how can we continue to inspire them now that the tournament is over?"
But this was the moment. This was the opportunity for the USMNT to prove it could hold its own against the best and deserved consideration as one of the world’s top teams. Now we know the USMNT is no closer to that goal than before.
Maybe even further away, because it won’t get an opportunity like this again any time soon.
Sebastian Berhalter and Tim Ream walk off the field following Monday’s loss to Belgium in the World Cup.
U.S. fans watching from Washington, D.C., watch as the U.S. men’s national team is eliminated from the World Cup.
