USMNT 2 - 5 Belgium reactions with Clint Dempsey: The Deuce LIVE 03/28/26

23:46But like I said, the second half, things normally tend to open up. And we just kind of never got going in the second half. Made changes and tried to get a spark. A lot of people came on. I mean, the strikers did us justice for how they reacted when they came on. But other players, they still weren't getting tight. You're allowing a player to dribble inside you, get on his left foot. Don't get me wrong, world-class finish, world-class goal. But you've got to be closer to him to challenge and make that more difficult for him. And then you talk about the other goal that was created at the very end when, you know, it's like a deflection that goes right back to them.

24:22And it's like comedy of errors in that type of situation. Another one was a penalty. And, yeah, man, it's definitely a dark day, frustrating game to watch after so much promise for our last five games, you know, beating Paraguay, beating Australia. Uruguay. You know what I'm saying? and not really conceded much in getting goals and being more exciting and having that fight. And just, it wasn't there in the second half.

24:51Rog:Oh, Clint, I mean, the teams we've beaten, there are good footballers in these teams, but there's something that happens, and you're going to have to explain it to me. When we play European teams, I think we have not beaten the European team in seven games dating back to that World Cup defeat against the Netherlands. You and I watch Turkey A. Switzerland and Switzerland. Switzerland and Turkey A outclass us. At times, completely, utterly humiliate us. It's incredible. And we've won just one of our last 20 World Cup games against European opponents. And that came 24 years ago against Portugal 2002 under Bruce Arena.

25:32Rog:You've played in some of these games. what happens when we face that caliber of European team is it tactical is it mental because it feels like we freeze I mean I remember playing against Belgium at home and they beat us 4-2 it was kind of a similar situation what we saw today but I just think that just a little bit more composure in the final third a little bit more quality on the ball and it's how do you react when you get punched in the mouth, right? Do you sulk? Do you get your head down or do you keep fighting? And it looked like when we got punched in the mouth, it didn't look like we got back up and was ready to swing again.

26:16It was almost like we were just on the ropes, like trying to survive in that second half. So I don't know if it's youth development or don't have enough fresh faces coming through and really pushing to get into that starting lineup. But is it our development that we have in the States in terms of creating those creative attacking players? I don't know.

26:43Rog:I do ache for a time when we can take the field against a serious European power and don't freeze, don't become star struck. But we are 59 days away from the squad announcement. Mauricio Pochettino said quite beautifully, quite positively, really trying to be an optimist. We have to start to dream to be in the semifinal, meaning back here in Atlanta. Then this, a 5-2 defeat, a stinging defeat, the end of that good vibes winning run. You've been in locker rooms after a game like this. What will it feel like? on one hand yes we got beaten quite substantially but at the same time it was just a friendly I don't think you're gonna they they look at it like that um I think most of the people in that locker room know that there's not many more opportunities to show yourself and and to make to book your ticket to go to this world cup right and a manager is always gonna look the most at his players and in their eyes when your backs are kind of against the wall a little bit like we got embarrassed today that there's no there's no way around that and how are we going to react to play against the Portugal side that some might pick to possibly win the World Cup you look at how well they performed in UEFA Nations League and winning that tournament so and the quality players that they have on that side so how is your team going to react after this type of situation Are they going to come out and fight and try to do something special?

28:17Are they going to, you know, cower in the corner? So I think you learn a lot about your team when your back's against the wall. And this is such a big opportunity for those fringe players or even the players that normally start to really gain the trust of this manager. Because, you know, there's going to be a lot of questions that are going to be talked about after this game. And the last thing you want is this window to go past. and you got the break speed off you in both your games. So we'll have to wait and see.

28:46Rog:Yeah, I love all of that, actually. I'm trying to think what could Pochettino say after quite a comprehensive, in all areas of the field, mistakes in the back line. Matt Turner, beautiful, beautiful Matt Turner, really an agony game. Was it four goals he leaked in the Switzerland game, then this? The attacking, Blunt, Christian Pulisic, frustrating all over the field i love your you know trying to think about how we can take something it's positive had we won this i do think the sense of hype the sense of you know would have gone up to 11 there is a case that this wake-up call you know this dose of a reality check could actually be a good thing it is but also this is such a huge opportunity miss i remember all these podcasts that we're on and we're talking about games and we're talking about attendance and not having like the 12th man or having that energy and you look in the crowd you got 60 ,000 fans at the game and it's really such a big moment that you can capitalize on that a good performance versus Belgium and then who turns out for the Portugal game and then you start to see what we need to build as we get towards the World Cup because in the stadium you want to feel that belief and that energy and I just felt like today was a huge moment that we let go by because we've been asking for it come fans come out support show your passion they came and we let them down yeah i mean we've been watching them play in with with paltry attendance unless they you know played against uh um an opponent who had a massive fan base here there is not a massive belgian american community this was a u.s fan base turning up showing out and then you know leaving early in the second half.

30:32Rog:You are right. This was a missed opportunity. Thank God we have three days to go before we get to have a redo against a truly terrific opponent and learn more about ourselves. We're going to get to the questions. That blueymb3 in the chat says, don't worry, three teams from the Coupe stage go through, don't they? Is that the only silver lining? God bless. And we're going to divert them to your questions. Remind of how this works here on YouTube Live, scan the QR code in the top left of your screen or click on the pinned comment in the chat. Take you into a Zoom with our producer, Tony. He'll tell you what you need to know.

31:08Rog:Come on up and ask Clint whatever you like. Let's start with a great Asher. Tell us where you are, Asher, on this dark day, bringing our lives, and what's your question for Clint? Hi, Clint. It's Asher, and I'm from West Milford, New Jersey. We actually went and went to your show in, what was it, The Grey Pony down by the shore. The Stone Pony. Stone Pony. It was an amazing night. Please, God, we will have amazing nights to come. What is your, thanks for your terrible taste in podcasts, baby. What's your question for Clint? We've talked a little on the show today about the second half and what needs to change in that and all about the attitude.

31:56Rog:But I'm just wondering what your point of view is and how we can change to become, like Raj said earlier, the good vibes FC. We need to go on and beat teams like Portugal and enter a World Cup. Yeah, I mean, we've got to stop conceding goals and score more. We miss Chris Richards tonight. We need to figure out the goalkeeping situation. in the midfield we got ran through a little bit today. And, yeah, I mean, the first half, there was a lot of positives. I mean, if we go 1-0 at halftime, everybody's like, what a half. Everything's great, you know, looking forward to the second half and all that.

32:38And it was really just a tale of two halves today. So it looked like we were building towards something. And we kind of took a big step back because we talk about these last five games that you've watched this U.S. team play. and you got that grit that they didn't have, you know, in Copa America or CONCACAF Nations League. And then Gold Cup, you had the grit, but you needed a little bit more quality. Now we've added the European players back into the mix. So mixing that quality with the grit and the fight. And we had that in the first half, but we lost it in the second. And just like we got our heads down, we got punched in the mouth and we need to do better than that.

33:16Rog:Clint, I do think we missed Tyler Adams today, not just Chris. Tyler, having that shield, having that dog in that midfield. I think we will. Look, there is an incredible moment. You've just talked about this generational moment. World Cup on home turf. And there is a desire. There's a lot of very effervescent footballers to play attacking, fast, speed-driven, kinetic football. It is a very hard footballing style to maintain outside of the club level where you're training every day, where you are building that chemistry every day, where when you have a weak point, you can just go into the transfer market and fill it.

34:04Rog:Ultimately, international football is really about building a foundation and making sure you can not concede first, working out where the goals come from. We saw England in the 2018 World Cup. Their goals were ugly. They're off set pieces. They're off throw-ins. They get a goal. Then they lock it down. They took their nation all the way to the semifinal and made them dream. It's very hard to play international football, Clint, where you're razzle-dazzling. No, for sure. For sure. I think there is a temptation for us to razzle. Today, our back line was so porous. That's the thing that creates the biggest agony for me.

34:45Yeah, I mean, you've got to have that mix, right? I mean, even if you're in a fight, you've got to know what you have, right? If you don't have the quality that you can attack and just put them on the back foot and high-press them and win the ball in their half and all that type of thing, well, then you need to figure out a way to stay compact, be difficult to break down, and then counterattack them. Pick and choose your moments to do those type of things. I think about times when we beat big European sides like Spain in the Confederations Cup. You had to pick and choose your moments when to get forward.

35:18You had to stay compact defensively. And I'm not saying that you just sit back. I'm just saying you got to be smart about how you go for the game and know when you have an advantage and you take it. You can't get stretched too much and leave everybody exposed with those one-on-one duels where you're getting dribbled and mismatched and conceded in the way we did in the second half. You got to be tighter and more compact and then, you know, adjust and find your moments. Because, I mean, if you're just swinging for the fences, you're going to get knocked out. You know what I mean? Unless you have the best shit in the world.

35:52I mean, that's just not realistic, right? So you got to know what you have. I'm not saying that we don't have quality because we do. But you still got to go back to your bread and butter, which was staying compact defensively and being difficult to break down, being good on set pieces and still being able to get teams on the counter. And if you have possession, then play. But you can't get stretched how we got stretched today.

36:17Rog:Yeah, I love everything you've just said, Clint. I mean, we cannot get high on our own supply. We do have quality. But what we learned today was other teams have better quality. That doesn't mean they're going to beat us, but we have to find a system where we are locking down. I will watch this game again tonight. night i will watch those second half goals the caliber of that defending um was so porous so vulnerable so exposed so naive at times like that is mission one that is absolutely by the way pochettino is that coach i mean he the grinter fight um that's that you know that solid triple day on occasion uh trainings that lead to that foundation ultimately were in his hands and it was It was there in the first half.

37:03You see Christian running all the way back, defending on his own goal line. You see Weston tracking all the way back, you know, defending on his own goal line as well. I mean, it's like the work in the fight was there, but somewhere in the second half, like once we did come out of the locker room.

37:20Rog:By the way, Christian, when he looked at his game film, that first half, he looked like a Pochettino player. The best plays he made were in his own half, deep in his own half. defensively. It was that dog in him kind of grin to that Pochettino. He looked like Pochettino ball. We need more of that with a little bit of the attacking dance and almost a reset. Football is a game of balance and today we looked incredibly, incredibly imbalanced.

37:51Rog:Next question from the mighty Lee. Tell us where you are, Lee, and what's your question? Hey, what's up, guys? I'm up in Hudson, New York. Beautiful. The Tyler Adams River.

38:06Rog:That's how it's been officially renamed. I love you, Bubba. Hudson is a gorgeous, gorgeous part of the nation. Just thinking about it lifts my spirits. What is your question for the mighty Clint? So I've got a question. I've always wanted to call in. Clint, I've got some anecdotes as well. I was in 83 on the Mississippi team with Justin Mapp. I don't know if you're in Alabama. Alabama. Yeah. Yeah. That camp. And then I played against you in college at Furman and you, you guys beat us eight zero. Oh, sorry, bro. How did Clint play that daily? I don't remember how many goals you had, but you guys had a stout team with like Ricardo Clark and John Barry Newsome.

38:51Rog:My, uh, my claim to fame was, um, I remember you had me at the top of the 18 at one point and I did not let you beat me. There we go. That was my only win from that game. Yes, sir. Shout out Region 3. Yeah, yeah. Did you just say that Furman had a stout team? Oh, yeah. I love that, Fred. We need a stout team. We need a stout US team. We can fix it all, baby. Keep going. I'm loving this, Lee. You are raising our spirits, baby. Yeah, my buddy that I grew up across the street from went to Furman. He had the dorm below you, and he used to say, he'd come home from Thanksgiving and be like, Clint has the ball going against the wall in his dorm room constantly.

39:34Oh, man. Yeah, me and Rico, we were roommates. We had that. We always were jamming some outcasts. Nice.

39:41Rog:Hey, look at Clint setting me up for a plug. You can find Big Boy on our YouTube right now. By the way, when you played Furman, did you know in your scouting that Clint Dempsey was just a dog? Oh, yeah, we knew. Yeah, we'd known him. I mean, I played Ricardo Clark in like a regional tournament once. And my coach in the warmup was like, watch this guy. And the dude like ripped, like scored on our keeper from like midfield. We knew what we were up against. Anyway, my question is, there's always like a surprise, like wild card at every World Cup, you know, in the last couple of weeks, like something comes out of nowhere.

40:23Rog:You know, in 2002, it was like Donovan and Beasley. like no one's expecting them to start. What do you think the player or like trick up Potts' sleeve is going to be that kind of emerges like in the last month? God, that's such a good question. It's like, who is our Edson? It's a great question. Who's our Edson bubble of 2026? That's true. Who's our Hurt Gomez who kind of crashed in late for his World Cup? Who is, I mean, who is Potch going to put in his thumb and pull out a plump? I mean, it might not be a player necessarily. Oh, man. I think I'm pretty sure it's going to be Guzan after today's performance.

41:08Rog:Oh, man, I don't know. I think everyone's hoping it's going to be knockout banks, right? You know, we're hoping, we're praying. By the way, it reminds me very much of Flo Baloghan in the last World Cup. At this stage, the rumors were Flo Baloghan was coming, that he was going to solve our striker problem. He was going to join the US squad. It didn't happen then. It's fascinating watching the conversation about Banks, this kid who has his whole future ahead of him, making his decision, I think in his own sweet time should be given all the respect, all of the privacy to work out his own identity, his own feelings, his own familial feelings, which can be quite complicated.

41:58Rog:And his own, I mean, layer in, it's always also a commercial decision in terms of that pathway. But I do, I think he's probably, after watching that defensive performance today, He's probably never had a stronger hand, Clint. Yeah, I mean, we need to sure things up in the back. I mean, that's kind of been, when you think about the teams that I was a part of, we always had, we were good defensively and, you know, maybe needed a little bit more going forward, you know. And we talked about needing the number nine and those type of things. And now you have such a good fight going on in that position between Haji Wright, Ajiman, Pepe, and Balligan.

42:40So really, I'm hoping we get that fight for the center back situation, for the goalkeeping situation. That needs to get in the midfield. Who's going to be our set midfield? I feel like we've rotated quite a bit, but we need to start shoring things up. We're running out of time. So yeah, man, that's a great question. I have no answers for you. Do you think Freeman could slip in there? be like a surprise player oh for sure for sure for sure it could be it could be you know what i mean especially uh with the with the wingback situation um you know desk you know coming back from that that injury hopefully uh in may and you got way uh freeman uh you got anthony robinson as a wingback as well uh more on the left side than the right like those other guys but uh So, yeah, I mean, that's definitely an option.

43:36Rog:The funny thing is, Potch has cast such a wide net league. You know what I mean? It's not like the past couple of cycles where at least eight or nine of the first 11 almost picked themselves. He has, in this journey that we've watched, he went very MLS through that Gold Cup. We thought that that was just a B or a C team. He's then carried a lot of these players along with him. so that there are so many names that he's got there we have no idea of the depth chart and I do that that decision of how he's going to decant what is really a pool of about 34 35 players still so broad right now into the final 26 is deeply complex incredibly fraught and I do think today's result will have will have led him to brood a lot and we'll see how he reacts with the starting lineup for for Tuesday night we'll take one more question Lee come and ask any memory laden questions again I love thinking about Furman Clint Dempsey just kicking the ball like Steve McQueen in the great escape by in the cooler I adore it mighty Juan Carlos come on back baby take us home with your question uh for Clint remind us where you're from and what do you think yeah you can hear me right oh we can always hear you baby yeah so calling in from nicaragua but i guess i have a question for you roger and one for you clint so it's um i don't know which one you want me to start with clintic all right so i mean first memory is just watching you with the with the xbox jersey on the Sounders.

45:14Rog:I think you should have a collaboration or they should sponsor you or something. But I guess, what are the odds we see someone pulling your move with ripping the ref's notebook in the World Cup? Oh, hell. There's no chance anybody's going to be doing that. If I can give anybody some advice, don't punch a window. Don't punch through glass. It'll mess you up. and don't rip up a ref's notebook. It's not worth it. So that's going to be my advice. So there's going to be zero chance that happens. Hopefully people are listening and don't make the same mistakes that I did. That's amazing. That is the great parenting rules of Clint Dempsey.

46:01Rog:Don't punch your glass windows. Don't rip up the referee's notebook. Know when to hold them. Know when to fold them. The rest of your life decisions are down to your own. Juan Carlos, you're a beautiful man. Did he have another quick one or were we good? I mean, just a fun fact, today's VAR system was from Nicaragua too. So that was... That was like, it was like they just got a Hewlett-Packard desktop from somewhere deep in the bowels of the Atlanta. Just flung it there. I wasn't quite sure if it really was VAR or what was going on there. But I did, I mean, it was a very beautiful, it was a very beautiful setup they had.

46:39Rog:and Godspeed in that deep tech stadium. That Mercedes-Benz stadium is just riveting. And by the way, I know the Belgian players will have been so thrilled to play there. That's the thing that I'm most excited about about this World Cup is watching the excitement, particularly the European players to be playing in the United States. I said this in the live show, KDB, a massive NBA fan. You know, they are so amped. We saw with the French team talking about playing at the Patriots field and their NFL. The awe they hold for these places. I mean, it is totally, totally stunning. It was just very funny in such a high-tech stadium to see such a jerry-rigged system.

47:19Rog:Juan Carlos, you're a beautiful human being. Poch has just spoken via Alex Calabrese on Twitter. Pochettino on the next game against Portugal on Tuesday. This is not going to change the approach. We need to keep going with the plan. It's not going to change because of the results today. Clint, I'm going to give you the last word. I mean, you've been in a locker room after a game like this. I'm imagining the manager will say something, but I'm also imagining that the players will speak to each other. What do you imagine will be being said? What can be said? I'm trying to work out some angle of hope, a ray of joy, so that we can reload and go again Tuesday night against Portugal.

48:01I mean, I just think everybody's going to sit on this and look themselves in the mirror and look at tape, see what they could have done differently, what they need to do to improve, right? You don't got much time in terms of a turnaround. But like I said, you got the biggest opportunity in the world in front of you to play in a World Cup on home soil. And you think about the changes that happened from 94, the MLS professional league coming about because of that and how well the U.S. team played in that tournament. And it's a big responsibility that is on these guys' shoulders to go and lift this nation and take this game further than the ones before.

48:43So you've got to go out there and give it everything you've got. You can't be scared. You've got to take risks. I'd like to see players taking other players on 1v1 a little bit more and taking more risk and creating more opportunities up top. But, dude, if you've got to talk to somebody to motivate them, then they shouldn't be in the locker room. That's straight up. You know what you got in front of you. You want to test yourself against the best players in the world, right? You have a chance to do that in Portugal. They won the UEFA Nations League. What better test can you have than prepare yourself for the World Cup than to go against some of these teams?

49:21It's about how you respond to bad stuff that happens in your life, right? So we lost embarrassing performance 5-2. Now, come on. Stand up. Pump your chest out. So, you know, don't go down, like go out swinging rather than just, you know, give up, man. So hopefully, man, they get right.

49:39Rog:I believe in that, man. Trouble is opportunity. That's true in football and in life. Doug McIntyre's just tweeted this, Clint. Belgium coach Rudy Garcia said this team, the U.S. team he was talking about after this 5-2 loss, talking about the U.S., he said this team is better than the results showed tonight. I'm not sure if he's just sweet talking us in case Belgium faces in the next World Cup and he didn't want to give us any locker room conversation but Clint we will be back Tuesday night please God after a valorous win for our nation that will lift us so we need a hug Clint and I we need a bloody hug I'm looking forward Clint is here in the weeks to come we've got Diego Luna on shoot for the moon who will come on and talk about his mindset We've got Tyler Adams, who I adore and I miss terribly tonight, coming on to tape another episode of his show.

50:39Rog:Also this week, first episode of The Captain with Lindsay Heaps on the women's game, where one of my favourite players of all time in an American jersey sits down with our very own Sam Mewis to tell her journey as a leader on the run-up to the Women's World Cup in 2027. We'll be back here right after Tuesday's game against Portugal. kicks off 8 p.m. Eastern time. Clint, no matter the results, I will say, to speak to you, I never take it for granted to learn from you, to listen to you. And I know that our fans don't either. Roll on Tuesday with renewed hope, renewed belief. Roll on Portugal. That's going to be some test.

51:19Rog:Thank you, thank you, thank you, Clint. Thank you, brother. Appreciate you. Big, big love. Until then, GFOPs, as they say in Atlanta, courage. Yes, sir. you