USA Battered by Belgium

0:00MLB.tv on ESPN is your home for every out of market game live or on demand. Catch your favorite teams and players, plus MLB Network and ESPN app features like Multiview, syncing your stats, key plays, bets, and fantasy, all in one place. Sign up now for MLB.tv in the ESPN app. Separate subscriptions required, blackouts, and other terms apply. Visit stream.espn.com slash MLB TV for more information. Coming up, it's over and out for the United States. Flummoxed by the Flemish in the round of 16. We'll break it all down as many a USA fan will have gone sleepless in Seattle last night. And the World Cup said a final goodbye to Cristiano Ronaldo.

0:50While his main rival is back in action today, Lionel Messi and Argentina continuing their title defence. ESPN FC is next.

1:05Oh, the dream is over. The US were hoping to make it to their first quarterfinal since 2002, but they were no match for Belgium in the end. Welcome into our ESPN FC studios. Kay Marie Alejandro Moreno and Stevie Nichol here with you to look back on what we witnessed last night as we take a look at the reaction in the media. America's Cup dreams hit reality. Not their night, down and out. Uncle Scram, US giving the boot by Belgium in an ugly end to the Kop 4-1. It would finish and Jermaine Jones is with us. Jermaine Jones had a lot to say on last night's Football, Americas and FC, but we also saw him on social media.

1:44Jermaine, we're just going to read back the tweet that we saw from you this morning. Stop telling me the US made progress. That's what happens when you create a monster in Belgium that's punishing you for everything that was said and done before the game. Over to you, Jermaine.

2:02Yeah, you know, the whole tournament, I think it was, you know, building. And I said that more than once. I said we have to be careful that I don't see so many, you know, changes. I think, yeah, we have a good quality group, but not a lot of changes happened over the last couple of years. We talk about developing. but you know I think with the tournament growing and winning the first game, winning the second game I think we started believing in something and the whole country believed in something and we started getting a little bit I would say out of comfort zone and started talking that we, the best generation that we can make it possible, that we can win the World Cup and then especially now against Belgium when you watch the game but even if you go back and you look at the Turkey game we lost already too against an Europe team, then yes, you win against Bosnia.

2:54But when you look at the last game last night against Belgium, we had zero chance. We were, you know, with the whole Bollingen story before, with the president, the Red Card, and all the stories around that. We created a monster, and I said it yesterday, that monster destroyed us yesterday completely in that 90 minutes. At what point could you tell it was going to go this way for the US LA? The first minute? I think what was evident to see, if you compare it to the first couple of games that the United States played in this World Cup against Paraguay and Australia, what was noticeable then is how much the United States were willing to go and press the ball.

3:34And they were the aggressor over the course of the 90 minutes. And certainly early on in those matches, they were very much the aggressor. They were impacting and forcing turnovers from teams like Paraguay and Australia. and what we saw against Belgium is that the United States were never the aggressor. Belgium were the ones that were forcing the turnovers. Belgium were the ones that were creating the chances. Belgium were the ones that were on the attacking half. So from the very first minute, you said, uh-oh, this is different. This is problematic. How do you go about changing this momentum?

4:06And they never did. The quality of Belgium took over and the United States were searching for answers and they could not find any answers whatsoever. When Malik Tillman leveled it with the deflected free kick, did you think that maybe they could get something up then? Well, I thought after the equaliser we were going to see what we expected or what we thought was going to happen. I think Jermaine may have been talking about me because I got sucked in big time. We were here about three or four days ago and I was trying to tell Jermaine that this Belgium side has done nothing other than an incredible comeback against Senegal.

4:43The US are flying. They're squeezing their life out of teams. And I didn't listen to them. And so, yeah, right from the get-go. When the game against Paraguay started, I think we all went, whoa, I like this. And it continued through the Australia game. And actually, with the reserve team against Tokyo, it continued there as well. Yes, they lost the game, But that whole squeezing and pressing, it didn't happen. And yes, to answer your question, when they go in, I thought, OK, now we're going to see what we've been seeing. But underestimated Belgium big time and they didn't panic and they controlled the game again and in the end, comfortable in us.

5:28Well, while we're estimating things, we asked you to put together your player ratings, LA, for the US. Talk us through them. Yeah, well, I think for Matt Fries it's self-explanatory. While he made a great save to begin the match, then after that it was a free fall and the mistake he makes for the third goal was back breaking for the United States. So he gets that sort of great. As for Tim Ream, he gets a two as well because he got dunked on for the second goal and then he could have helped the mistake from Matt Fries but wasn't able to get a touch on the ball. and when you're the captain of a team that is asking for leadership and lacks composure in terms of what the team looked like early on in the game, then that reflects poorly on you individually.

6:13I can go through all the scores, and I'll just say Serginio Dez was poor so much so that he was being taken off the field at halftime, but I'll focus on Christian Pulisic. There's a part of me that wanted to give a one, but I said, you know, he showed up, so I'll give him a two. And it's not because I want to hone in on Christian Pulisic specifically, but what Christian Pulisic represents for this national team as compared to other national teams in this competition. He's not at the level of Messi, O 'Hallan, or Mbappe, but to the United States, he is that. He is that figure. And when this team was struggling early on in this match, prior to his injury, early on in this match, instead of looking to get on the ball and trying to problem-solve for this team, hey, let's get us into the attacking half.

7:02Let's relieve some pressure. Let's make sure that I get involved. He threw himself out into the left-hand side, parked himself over there, and did not participate in the game whatsoever. And that, to me, is unacceptable. Because if you're going to be the guy with the commercials and you're going to be the flag bearer and you're going to be all these things that he represents for the United States, then you have to get in the ball, on the ball, when the team is struggling. And he did not. And to see him walk off the field injured, It was such an underwhelming sight. And it was so deflating. And it is deflating for the guys on the field.

7:37If your best player is not showing up on the day, even prior to his injury, what does that do for the rest of the group? If he's not ready to go, if he's not playing at a high level, it permeates through the team. And that's part of being a leader. And I'm not saying yell and scream to be a leader, but perform at a high level and bring everybody with you. Christian Pulisic did not do that. Jermaine, your thoughts on Pulisic?

8:05For me, it's a completely different way that I look at it. I played with him and I said it. For me, my experience is that in the US, you don't become a star, the greatest star, and that's the difference to Europe. You get your time and you get built into becoming a star. In the US, I was there when Nike started to tell nobody plays with the 10 anymore. That's Christian Pulisic's number now. You know, when US soccer was pushing for him, you know that he's on every commercial. That you see it even now through the whole World Cup. So we're pushing the boy or the young man into something, you know.

8:41And yes, we can talk about he has the quality. He plays in big clubs overseas. But still, you know, we have to look at not only him. There's other guys around him too who on big stage don't perform. So that's how clear it is. and yesterday you were able to see it and through the tournament, yes, we talked about it and you guys all talked about it in the studio that when you look at the first game, the second game, yes, we, you know, we play that games, we play good. But even Paraguay game, I said, we can be happy that we played them in the first game and not maybe into the tournament, like two or three games in because then you will have a complete different game, you know.

9:19So for me, just to put it on Christian Pulisic, it's too easy for me, you know. I said that we have to look because for me is it when I look at the developing from the last tournaments to now I don't see big jumps so in always to say it's Christian Pulisic like failed or Christian Pulisic's mistakes and it's his fault and all that stuff it's for me too easy to push it just that one person so it's yesterday again there was 11 people on the field and when I look at it there was one with two men who actually bring to his performance so in all everybody else on the field failed that game and that's why we lost 4-1.

9:57So the road ends here for the US in the 2026 World Cup so let's get the word of the US players speaking after their loss to Belgium. It feels exactly the same when you get knocked out of a tournament. It's hard to say. It doesn't feel great. You start to think about what you could have done better. It was unlike any of the performances we've had this summer to be honest. I mean I don't know, it's hard to say where it went wrong, but that just didn't feel like us out there today. We didn't win any individual duels really. We looked like we lacked energy. It looked like we weren't as fluid as we have been.

10:34So yeah, just disappointed. I think overall there were positives that we're going to take away from it. It just doesn't feel like it right now. We played well in the other games. It was very intense. We was able to generate energy with the crowd. And today we didn't give the crowd a lot to cheer for. So that's the most disappointing thing. And that's the part that hurts the most. I don't think it was the opponent, the speed of the game, the moment. I don't think any of that. I think it's just small details of the game that got away from us. And when they get away from you like that, then obviously you're going to lose the game.

11:03There's been a lot of noise about Ballow's suspension, the president getting involved. I'm wondering if or how much you guys heard that the last 36 hours and whether that had any kind of an impact on you guys. No, it had no impact. outside noise we've we've done a good job with this group of of allowing outside noise to be outside noise you know it's it's got nothing to do with us as as players and and getting ready for games you know it's one of those things that's the world we live in so you know we we were fully focused on on us as a as a group and as a team and and fully focused on the game and not really worrying about what was being said or debated in the outside world.

11:46I don't think that noise or anything affected us by any means. If anything, it probably uplifted us in a sense. That noise was following Balogun being available, and whether it played a part or not, the US players insist in it didn't. But as for Belgium, it definitely seems as though it was a motivator. This is their Twitter account after the game. Overturn this, they say, following on from Lukaku's goal. and in the papers as well. They say, hello, Donald. Hello, Donald. So, yes, I think that they definitely used it to fire them up. After Lukaku's goal, the fourth goal on the night in the 93rd minute, the Belgian players all joined him in his celebration and then they also hit the trump dance on the pitch and in the dressing room as well.

12:35Okay. So I think it's fair to say here, Stevie, that they did use this as a motivator. I think you might be catching on to something. Listen, I think absolutely that was a factor. But you have to look at it in terms of football and in terms of the way they went about it, in terms of the tactics. Yes, the motivation was there, but they completely dominated and outplayed the US side. All the things that the US have done well, and I'm thinking of the likes of Robinson on the left, you know, Dest on the right, talking about how McKinney gets forward, Christian Pulisic's been doing this, Baligan's...

13:15The way that they were set up, Rudy Garcia set his team up just perfectly and completely minimised all the positive things that as a unit and as individuals the US had, they completely doused them and destroyed them. And then after that, the US couldn't keep the ball because they were getting put under pressure. And then when the Belgians got it, they looked so much more comfortable on the ball. Certainly more comfortable than they've been in this whole tournament. I mean, this was a different side. And I think you've got to look at the team he picked. You know, you think of other teams. I'm sure you know what I'm talking about.

13:52No Doku, no De Bruyne, no Lukaku. This team was picked to play this game. This team was picked to, number one, snuff out all the noise from the crowd, all the noise from the players on the US side, and then we'll try and play our game. And absolutely what they perfect. So he had a plan and then he had the fuel of this Balogun situation too. Yeah, so I think, and Steve and Jermaine know this very well, the locker room is a very fickle place. It is. And it doesn't take much for the locker room to fall apart, but it doesn't take much for the locker room to come together. And you give them a little something, something that everybody can hang on to, and you rally around something, and now you have everybody's attention.

14:34And so Rudy Garcia didn't have to do anything to get the attention of Belgium. That was done for him. And you saw and you noticed in the manner in which Belgium played, that had a different level of energy and intensity. Now, that may just be the fact that you're in a knockout competition, but it may also be the fact that all of this was going on. They certainly elevated their level of play. There is no doubt about that. But at the very basic core conversation of this, The best explanation may just be the simplest one. Belgium have better players than the United States all over the field. Belgium are better than the United States all over the field.

15:13So it should not be a surprise that this was the outcome. Back in March, it was 5-2. And we dismissed it kind of, sort of, because, well, you know, it was a friendly. It was a friendly. Maybe we should have paid attention to that match a whole lot more than we did because the teams haven't changed all that much. and the United States against Belgium yesterday, they did not look competitive. They were underwhelming. And Belgium, in key moments, when you need your key stars to make plays, Leandro Trozar looked like a world-class player, looked like a guy that was about to make a difference. Belgium looked like they were always going to create opportunities and score goals, particularly in the first half, whenever they got into the attacking half.

15:53The United States never created that sort of momentum. Yeah, and so we saw the result that we did. Now, we've heard Belgium saying and pretty much showing that it was used as a motivator for them. We've heard Ali saying that Belgium were the better team and that was clear on the night as well. But Jermaine, many of the players are insisting that it didn't play a factor, this whole Balogun situation. Do you think for the US players it did actually add some extra pressure?

16:23Let's put myself, if I put myself in their shoes, right, like as a player. I don't think really that you try to focus on it. But Ali had a good point. I just look at it from both sides. When I'm the U.S. team and I go and I look at the stats, since I think 1930 was the last time that the U.S. won against Belgium. So you look at the other side of Belgium and you look and you say, oh, the whole country, everybody talks about it, that we the favorite, that we have to go in there, we have to beat them. It's not even the Donald Trump's conversation and what happened there. I think it's just in general, like as a player to a player, you look and you go, wait a minute, they have players, they're pretty good.

17:06It's not that easy. And then you go out on the field and the Belgian players show you that the quality is there on their side, that they are, when you try to press them, when you try to get on their skin and everything, that they have the quality to play out of it, out of the pressure, and they switch the game to, you know, on your side, that you have to handle something you not had in this tournament, that, you know, you go down a goal, you have to come back, you have to figure this out how you get back to this game, you know, and you're not getting really into the game, and it's tough for you, and I think that's all the situations what happened in this game yesterday, that they were challenged, the US team, with the situation they're not faced in this tournament, and when they faced it, most of the time they lost the games, So they lost against Turkey.

17:53They lost against Belgium in March. So now they lost again. And we're not talking here about a game they lose 1-0 or 2-1. It was a clear statement of Belgium that we are a better team. We are better players. And even letting out our three guys here with De Bruyne, he didn't even play at all. Lukaku came in late and scored even his goal. and then if you look at it, you know, Doku came in too. And that's, I would say, that's incredible for Belgium that if they look at it and they go, we let three of our guys out, two of them, they're a little bit older, they're just, one of them need a little, you know, maybe 20 minutes and Doku will bring in 30 minutes and we see where it goes to.

18:37But the guys who will start, I trust them. I trust them as a coach. I look at them and say, they're better than a US team and they will beat them and they will prove it and they will show it. So, Belgium did it. And I think at the end, as a football fan, you look at it now and you say the result says everything, right? And then the dancing, that's all just, you know, the, how you say, the whipped cream on the cake, you know, what the Belgium did then with the dancing and everything. Definitely in Belgium, it would be whipped cream on a cake, you're feeling, not just icing, but yes. Okay. The cherry on top.

19:09The cherry on top. But I like it. It's Belgium. They have nice treats, you know. Whipped cream, cherry, all right. Whipped cream. We'll take the whipped cream. I like that one. Ali, what happens next to Pochettino? Well, that's a good question. Because here's the thing. The United States have been beating teams like Paraguay and Australia in the World Cup for years upon years. It's not new for the United States to have success against those sort of teams. And Mariusz Pochettino is brought to the United States men's national team to win this sort of match. The match against Belgium. The match against Belgium.

19:42That's how much further forward are we now than what we were back in 2022? If you're talking about the United States men's national team, are we that much further forward? Or is it just because there's been such a good feeling about this team because of the start that they had in this World Cup, because they won the group that you kind of go, man, look at them. Now, after you see the performance against Belgium, you go, man, look at that. Yeah. And again, I'll ask that question as it pertains to Mariso Pochettino. He was brought in to make this program better than what it was in 2022. And it's a fair question to ask, given the performance against Belgium, are they better now than what they were in 2022?

20:26And if they are, it's slightly better. Why would Pochettino want to stay? I don't know. If Pochettino came to the U.S. because of the World Cup, he's not going to stay with the U.S. because he wants to be involved in the Gold Cup, where he's going to have half a team and not all these players. He did say he wanted to change the culture. The culture was a big thing. But he's got to say all the right things when he's in the job. He's got to sell it while he's in the job. I mean, I just don't see how Mauricio Pochettino would want to stay on, because there's nothing in particular much going to happen between now and when.

21:05When's the next big tournament? I mean, for the US, other than the Gold Cup. Why is he staying for the Gold Cup? It's not happening. So I don't see Pochettino staying. He's saying it's up to them and we'll see what they say. But there's no way. He came for the World Cup and the World Cup only. He's not coming to the US to try and change the culture of the US soccer. He's not trying to make players better for US soccer. He came for the World Cup and that's all he's going to do. As soon as that contract is done, he'll be gone. Okay, but I'll ask you. You're looking at it from the perspective of Pochettino.

21:40Let's look at it from the perspective of the United States. Should the United States want Pochettino to stay? Well, they should realise that he won't want to stay and the answer would be no. Let me ask that question, Ale's question to Jermaine. Should the United States want Pochettino to stay?

21:58Yeah, from the US side, of course you want him to stay. He's a big personality, he's a good coach, he knows what he's doing, right? But I think if you, like you guys talked in the studio, if you turn it around, the main guy who brought him here, he left to Saudi Arabia before the tournament. And he was in charge now for the tournament and I agree that I believe that he saw that as an opportunity too, because you already heard before the tournament that he was flirting with some big clubs in Europe and using that, it's not only using that for the countryside, like for the US, it's even for himself.

22:33It's a huge stage. You can present something that you took a team from nobody had believed in something into a good group stage. You know, it's for himself. I think a good stamp too, that he can look at it. And I agree that I believe that, and I said that yesterday, that I don't think he will stay. I think he will, when his contract is finished, he will say, I'm done. Because I think he wants to be on a big stage and he wants to coach every day. And that's why I believe that he will not re-sign the new contract. Great stuff. Thanks so much for being with us, Jermaine. You can catch more from Jermaine talking on last night's show, all the reaction to the US's exit.

23:14That's available now on ESPN+. You can stream it. You can hear from Jürgen Klinsmann and Casey Keller, Hercules Gomez and Alexis Nunes to make sure to check that out all the reaction to the U.S. coming out of the World Cup. And that's it for this World Cup and the rest of them for Cristiano Ronaldo. More on Spain, Portugal next.

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