Why Not US? - Because US Wasn't Good Enough.
The wild ride for the USMNT ends in Seattle against Belgium, and even a neophyte fan like me can see the gap between US and the rest.
Barring a late-night phone call from the current Oval Office occupant and inaugural FIFA Peace Prize award winner (lol) to his lackey, FIFA president Gianni Infantino, ordering him to vacate Belgium’s 4-1 victory over the United States in the Round of 16, (which, let’s face it - could actually happen…) the USMNT’s 2026 World Cup experience is over.
And there was a lot to like, even for a guy like me who’s still learning the fineries and nuances of the beautiful game, and this once every four years tournament.
And, I’m no Zlatan Ibrahimovic, (although he’s grown on me during the past few weeks) but it doesn’t take a world-class soccer player to see that the team was rattled, and in way over their heads.
Team USA made a huge investment in the coach, they told me this on today’s broadcast. I’ve been working in professional sports all my life and like you watch a bunch on color TV. We can all see when a team isn’t ready for the task in front of them.
And that’s generally on the coach.
Mauricio Pochettino’s own words after the loss said it all “…from the beginning we never connected with the game.” Adding, “…they were better than us…”.
Yeah. Right. I agree. Who’s responsible to get em ready? I know the answer to that one and I’m not making the $ 6 million dollars a year he is doing what he’s doing.
USA Soccer lost another one to one of the big boys and in a knockout round, again. This keeps happening. Christian Pulisic, the guy the TV people kept telling me is a real guy and a world star was no factor at all when he needed to be.
I know enough about disguised injuries in big tournaments that maybe that one he suffered in the group stage lingered and bothered him more than we know. We’ll hear tomorrow or something I would think.
At any rate, it’s a failure. Big time, even if not that unexpected. But - let’s not let that keep us from enjoying what should be a pretty stellar next couple of weeks.
And what do those teams have the USMNT don’t? Why don’t we care that much? And - does it really matter in the grand scheme of things?
