- 14 minutes ago
More disappointment for the USMNT, as they fell by a big-time margin, 4-1, to Belgium in the World Cup Round of 16 - ending all of those good vibes in the same place they always seem to fall short.
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00:00not go well. I was out and about in a bar.
00:01Everybody was very excited. The energy,
00:03the electricity was fantastic.
00:05When they showed Flo Balligan before the game even
00:07started, the place erupted.
00:10Of course, the Americans
00:11on a brilliant Tillman goal pull
00:13even for mere moments.
00:16And the place was
00:17ablaze. I mean, everybody really wanted
00:19last night to be something for U.S.
00:21soccer, and it just didn't happen. They got
00:23outclassed. They did, and this is
00:26a cursory
00:27look at it, and you'd go,
00:30yeah, I've seen this before. They didn't make it
00:31in 2018, which, by the way, we should
00:34never forget. That's
00:35unbelievable. That's such a disgrace. To not
00:37qualify out of CONCACAF is absurd,
00:40but whatever. That's not what we're talking about right now.
00:42The last four times they've gone to the World Cup,
00:44they've gone to the round of 16
00:45and pretty much have lost to
00:47a European nation. They lost to Ghana in 2010,
00:50but it was Belgium in 2014.
00:51It was the Netherlands in 2016. Belgium
00:54again here in 2026.
00:56And if you just, you know,
00:57are a tourist, and you stopped in, you saw it,
00:59you go, yep, it's the same, and then you move on.
01:02It's frustrating. It sucks to get
01:04destroyed in that way.
01:06And they were outclassed from the jump. There's
01:07no hiding behind that. There's no other way
01:09around that. Belgium was better in every
01:11way you could be better. The U.S. stars,
01:13the guys that needed to be great, were simply not.
01:15I saw, I can't remember the exact numbers,
01:17so forgive me if I'm butchering them, but just, you know,
01:19in watching all the coverages, as everyone else did,
01:22I think three of Pulisic's first
01:23five touches were direct turnovers.
01:25You're just like a heavy-footed,
01:28clunky rec player,
01:29not a world-class guy that's supposed
01:31to lead you in a game like that.
01:33Here's the analysis that I'd like to offer
01:35just real quick, and I'll tag you back in.
01:37If you saw
01:39the group phase, and then you saw
01:41the way that they beat these
01:43teams that they used to be like,
01:45they were, the U.S. was the plucky
01:47bunch of underdogs, rough and tumble,
01:49American grit. You'd win some
01:511-0 game or 2-1 game over
01:53slightly favored opponent, and there'd be
01:54lots of talk about don't mess with the
01:56USA and whatever, and then they'd go up
01:58against a real opponent, and just,
01:59it was obvious. Well, I know that's what
02:01happened last night, too, but if you
02:02watch them play in that group stage,
02:04and then against Bosnia,
02:06a lot of part of this tournament,
02:08for the first time in my lifetime,
02:10they actually played the way the teams
02:11that have a real shot to win this thing
02:13played. Stylistically.
02:15Stylistically, with enough, and it's not
02:16just like, hey, let's try to attack.
02:18You can attack with players that can't do it,
02:19but with the creativity, the dynamic
02:23offensive, pushing the ball forward,
02:25being able to always move and create
02:27triangles and different options for
02:28players, and the offensive creativity,
02:30they played like a Brazil, like a
02:33Spain, like a Portugal, like some of
02:34these teams that can really win it.
02:36Now, they're not good enough yet.
02:37They're good enough to beat the bad
02:38teams, good enough to beat teams they're
02:40better than, but this was the first time,
02:42to me, they started to walk a path that
02:44might lead to something different than
02:46this result that happened last night.
02:47Yeah, sports get covered in a way now
02:50where everything has to be an extreme,
02:53and the loss yesterday is now going to
02:57be a referendum, where somebody's going
02:59to look at this and say, in the round of
03:0116, you lost 4-1, and four years ago in
03:042022, in the round of 16 against
03:06Netherlands, you lost 3-1, and in 2014,
03:10in the round of 16 against Belgium, the
03:12same opponent, you lost 2-1, and in 2010
03:16against Ghana in the round of 16, you
03:18lost 2-1, and I digress, and you could go
03:22back further and further and further, and
03:24they're going to say, this was not a
03:26progression, right?
03:27There was no major leap.
03:29I don't really see it that way.
03:30I do believe this was the best that
03:33they've looked.
03:34Last night, to me, resembled the U.S.
03:37national teams that I remember watching
03:39a lot of World Cup games.
03:41The, okay, you're clearly not as good as
03:43the opponent, and you're being outclassed,
03:45and you're playing up a weight class or
03:47two.
03:47The 4-1 win against Paraguay, go back
03:50through their history in the annals of
03:52the World Cup.
03:53They've never scored four goals in a game.
03:54They don't do that.
03:55Literally, they never have.
03:57The 2-0 win against Australia in a game
04:00that could have gone either way, I know
04:02they were favored in that game, but there
04:03were a lot of bigger upsets for really
04:05good teams in this tournament, and they
04:08didn't get upset, and they didn't give up
04:10a goal.
04:11Argentina just beat Egypt 3-2.
04:13They had to come back from down 2-0.
04:14There have been Belgium, in its last
04:16game, remember, against Senegal, was down
04:19multiple goals and had to come roaring
04:21back.
04:22They just handled their business, and
04:23circuit to circuit, shut down and
04:25dominated Australia.
04:26The Turkey game, I don't even really
04:28necessarily count, because they
04:29basically red-shirted the game with a
04:34lot of their best players, but they
04:35still almost won that one.
04:36They were 3-0 in the games they cared
04:38about prior to last night.
04:39So, I think it can absolutely be true
04:43that this was a significant step, that
04:46they are closer, that soccer in the
04:47United States of America, from a world
04:49stage standpoint, is in a much better
04:51place, and also, they played like crap
04:53last night.
04:54Like, they just did.
04:55Too many of their players didn't play
04:57their best game.
04:58They never had a shot.
04:59They committed too many gaffes.
05:01You mentioned Polisco came up small.
05:02I mean, in the net, a horrible mistake.
05:05Like, that was an embarrassing goal
05:07allowed by Freeze, and then Ream wasn't
05:09able to make a play as kind of the last
05:11man on defense.
05:12This is when the night ended last night.
05:13It was a one-goal game, second half.
05:15You're still thinking there's a lot of
05:16time.
05:17They can figure this out.
05:18They're getting out of play, but maybe
05:19dot, dot, dot.
05:20Nope.
05:20And then you have one of the true blooper
05:23moments of the whole tournament.
05:24...to raise the waters.
05:27Richards beating out of the air.
05:29Freeze has got to get there and deal
05:30with it.
05:31He takes it down off the chest to
05:33Ketelar and knocks it away.
05:35Tim Ream can't block it, and the last
05:38video review says this is a foul from
05:41behind on Ream.
05:42It is a...
05:43So if there's something discouraging
05:44about last night to me, it's that it
05:47had to be embarrassing in that way.
05:50Like, it had to be in flames where
05:52you're going, what in the heck was
05:53that?
05:54Just lose normally.
05:55You know, lose a 3-1 game without any
05:57goals like that.
05:58That was the disheartening part, but
06:00otherwise, this was the best I've seen
06:03them.
06:03If you're searching for three wins in a
06:05World Cup, you're not going to find it.
06:06If you're searching for goal differential
06:09like the one they had coming into this
06:10game, you're not going to find it.
06:12So people can make this some big
06:13referendum that nothing's changed.
06:15They always get to the round of 16.
06:17I think that's lazy analysis.
06:20That's silly.
06:21This was and felt different for much of
06:23this stretch.
06:24Are they good enough, Danny, to be in the
06:26Elite Eight right now, among the best
06:28eight in the world?
06:29I guess not.
06:29But they're somewhere between 8 and 16.
06:32You don't get to have a tournament now
06:33to see where you seed among that group.
06:35They held serve.
06:36They got a bout to where they should
06:38have.
06:38But in doing so, they were dominant
06:40enough that it makes you think maybe
06:42they're on to something.
06:43You go look at, again, the previous
06:44times.
06:45Go back to 2010, for example.
06:46Draw, draw.
06:48That 1-0 dramatic win to send them
06:50through to the knockout round when
06:52Landon Donovan scored in the last
06:53couple of minutes.
06:54And it wasn't like a great play.
06:56It was like kind of a weird fracas in
06:57front on a counterattack.
06:58It wasn't because they were better than
07:00Algeria.
07:01Algeria!
07:02Right?
07:02That's kind of the level we're talking
07:03about.
07:04They're feeding from scraps.
07:05Gotta beat them 2-1 in the following
07:07round.
07:08Then, you know, 2014, again, they lost
07:10to Belgium, where they barely got out
07:12of the group phase.
07:13A win and a draw, eking these games out.
07:16Barely, barely, barely getting through
07:18to the next round.
07:18They're like third-place team that has
07:21to wait for a goal differential and a
07:22couple tiebreakers.
07:23Sometimes they finish second in the
07:24group.
07:26They steamrolled their first two
07:27opponents who are kind of shadows of
07:31what they used to be.
07:32And that, to me, is the instructive
07:34part here.
07:35How it happened matters to me so much
07:37more.
07:37Again, they went up against a world
07:39power.
07:40Belgium, I don't think, is going to win
07:41the whole thing, but they're plenty
07:42good enough.
07:42They didn't go with some of the old
07:44guys that have been struggling
07:45throughout this tournament.
07:46Kevin Debreyne didn't play last
07:48night.
07:48And a couple of the other guys that
07:50are on the older side who have been
07:51struggling sat and some of their
07:52young up-and-comers played.
07:54And they ran circles around the
07:55U.S.
07:55They had, to me, they scouted
07:58incredibly well.
07:58They were coached incredibly well.
08:00And all the protestations out in
08:01public that the coach was doing
08:03making it about Balagan and how
08:04aggrieved everybody was.
08:05Behind the scenes, what they were
08:06doing is, this is how the U.S. is
08:08going to attack us and here are our
08:09answers.
08:09And they were in every channel,
08:11every passing lane, waiting.
08:13Every time the ball went to the
08:15wing, in previous games, it was a
08:16one-on-one festival and Desk could be
08:18creative.
08:18And you could see runs from Tyler
08:22Adams and Anthony Robinson and
08:25nonexistent.
08:25Zero threats.
08:26The U.S.
08:26had zero threat last night.
08:28But they scored 11 goals in this
08:29tournament.
08:30They scored three in 2022.
08:33Think about that.
08:34You know what I'm saying?
08:35Yes, I do.
08:35They were plus three in goal
08:37differential this time.
08:38They were minus a goal in goal
08:42differential last time.
08:43So the notion, like, they got to the
08:44round of 16.
08:45It's the equivalent of saying, well,
08:47I didn't make the playoffs and you
08:48didn't make the playoffs, so our
08:50season was the same.
08:51I have a better record.
08:52I have a better run differential.
08:54If you're just looking at the
08:55result, okay, fine.
08:56And by the way, it's not a crime for
08:58the team that is fringe top 15 or so
09:00in the world to not get into the top
09:03eight in the World Cup.
09:04I also think if you play Belgium
09:05again right now, it's a different
09:07game.
09:07I don't think you beat them after
09:08seeing that game.
09:09I don't know how they were favored.
09:11I don't know why they were
09:12favored.
09:12To me, that seems like it was
09:13completely incorrect and maybe just
09:15a way to get people to bet on the
09:17game.
09:17I'm not really sure.
09:18But Belgium's clearly better.
09:19I mean, they won every race to
09:22every ball.
09:23Like, I thought the United States
09:24grabbed the Carly Lloyd analysis
09:25from last night.
09:26I thought she was spot on.
09:27She crushed this.
09:28This is exactly how I felt.
09:29I saw this today and I was like,
09:31yep, that's exactly what I was
09:32saying.
09:32I don't know anything.
09:33She knows a lot and everything.
09:35But it just felt like they were
09:37timid and nervous.
09:38And the team that you saw as the
09:40aggressor in every matchup
09:42before, they had no time.
09:44They had no space.
09:45It was almost like they were
09:46playing nervous and timid.
09:49And maybe that's just that you're
09:50worse than Belgium and you were
09:51better than the other teams.
09:52This was Carly Lloyd, who is an
09:54American women's national team hero
09:56on Fox last night.
09:58No, look, you know, it's a bit of a
10:00downer for us being out here now
10:01after this loss.
10:02But I just I felt like they lost the game
10:06before they even stepped out onto the
10:07pitch.
10:08And I'm not sure why.
10:09And I don't know the reasons.
10:11But just from the beginning, just
10:12chasing, tentative, scared, just not
10:15confident on the ball.
10:18And I think big time players, you wanted
10:21some of those big time players to step
10:22up in big moments.
10:24And I got to be honest, you know, I was
10:26a bit disappointed with Christian
10:27Pulisic.
10:28I think whether he wants to be the star
10:30of this team or not, we didn't see
10:32enough of from him in this particular
10:34game and really the whole World Cup
10:37little glimpses here and there.
10:38But, you know, look, aside from this
10:42loss, I think on the brighter, brighter
10:45storyline, it's been a fantastic World
10:47Cup.
10:48This team has united the country.
10:50They have.
10:51She goes on to compliment the United
10:53States.
10:54But I think her analysis there is
10:56correct, which is.
10:58Summed up, they came up small.
11:00Yeah.
11:00You know, they just looked like they
11:02were less prepared, obviously not as
11:05talented, but also like they knew they
11:08were playing against a team better than
11:10them and they were giving way too much
11:12credit to Belgium.
11:13Yeah.
11:13Or, you know, it's hard to go into the
11:15psychology or the brain of every one of
11:17the players.
11:17I have no idea.
11:18She said they look tentative.
11:20My first thought was, did they read all
11:22their own press clippings and assume that
11:23some sort of, you know, special eagle was
11:25going to fly over and they would just
11:26steamroll because America or something?
11:28I wonder if there was not something
11:29psychologically to when they didn't have
11:32Balogun, everyone had talked themselves
11:34into, they're probably going to win.
11:35It'll be, you know, a toss up kind of
11:37game 50-50.
11:38But remember, they were still minimally
11:40favored without Balogun in sportsbooks.
11:42And then you got him back.
11:44And I know what the storylines were
11:46nationally.
11:48Oh.
11:49It's a bad day to be Belgium.
11:51Yeah, bad day to be from Belgium.
11:52Right?
11:53I mean, it's so much of like, we were
11:55going to win anyway, but now we have
11:57Balogun back.
11:57Now we'll double win.
11:58And I wonder if there was this feeling
12:00internally for them when they got Balogun
12:02back.
12:03Like, they all took a breath of, you know,
12:05oxygen and fresh air and go, okay.
12:08All right.
12:09Now we know.
12:09Now we're sure.
12:10Because it looked like everyone was
12:11sloppy and rusty.
12:12You know, and I've seen that.
12:13Like, if you get it, you don't, if your
12:15kids play soccer, when they've gone from
12:18basketball season, the first time out, you
12:20know, the frost melts and okay, let's
12:22go and get the soccer ball for the first
12:23time.
12:23Looks like they've never seen one.
12:25Now, again, that's at the eight-year-old
12:26level, but that's what it looked like to
12:28me.
12:28They were, their touches were clunky.
12:30So she used the word timid.
12:31Yeah.
12:31And I think that's a smarter way to say
12:33what I'm about to say, which is like
12:35soccer novice guy commentary.
12:38I've watched, I don't know how many games
12:40in this tournament they've been on.
12:42It seems like, like a NCAA tournament
12:44Thursday every day for weeks and weeks
12:47and weeks.
12:47And let's say I've watched parts of 15 or
12:4920 of these games.
12:50Every time there's a ball in the box, the
12:54defending team, meaning the ball is in
12:56front of your net, is crawling over bodies
13:01and hot coals and nails to get to that
13:05ball and clear it from the danger area.
13:07It's like hockey, right?
13:08You're, you're going to take a penalty or
13:10you're going to destroy someone.
13:11Please get out of there.
13:11Please get out of there.
13:13When that first goal was scored in the
13:15ball, like lands, bounces up in the air,
13:17nobody plays it.
13:18Then it's headed into a more dangerous
13:20area by Belgium.
13:21There were multiple American players
13:23kind of standing there going,
13:24wonder who's going to get this one?
13:26Who's going to handle our business here?
13:27You don't see that in any other game.
13:30That urgency that you see everywhere else
13:32that, oh my God, the ball's in a dangerous
13:33area by any means necessary.
13:35If they get a corner, if they get a throw
13:36in from near the corner, whatever happens
13:39doesn't matter next as long as the ball's
13:41not in front of our net.
13:42They're just all standing flat-footed.
13:44They did not have the same aggression
13:47that they've had in every game and that
13:49I've seen in every single tournament game
13:51by even the bad team.
13:52I don't know how that can happen in the
13:54biggest game in decades for the United
13:57States of America, but it just was what
13:59it was.
13:59Agreed.
14:00And it was pretty clear to me, even though
14:01the Tillman goal was incredible and I
14:02thought, well maybe, you know, they'll take
14:04off now and they'll leave their problems
14:06behind them for the few minutes when the
14:08game was actually tied.
14:09It was pretty clear to me, even when he
14:11had scored and it was a tie game, they
14:13were the second best team on the field.
14:15Yeah.
14:16They just scored right away.
14:17Right away.
14:18And that was their first shot, by the
14:19way.
14:19That was their first threat was that the
14:21foul that happened outside the box.
14:22Not even first shot on goal, their first
14:24shot.
14:24They hadn't created a single opportunity.
14:26They didn't have another shot on goal
14:27until there was like five minutes left.
14:28Yeah.
14:29The first save of the game for Belgium
14:31was already a three to one game and there
14:33was like six or seven minutes left in the
14:34game before it became four to one.
14:36Yeah.
14:36And they were, again, totally dominated.
14:38And that's the, that's the part that's,
14:40that's hard to take to your point.
14:41I don't know whether, again, it was being
14:43timid.
14:43I don't know whether it was the assumption
14:45that it's just going to happen for us,
14:47whatever it was, it's a, it's a bitter
14:49disappointment in that way.
14:50And again, was it that the talent level
14:52or just the, they're not good enough right
14:55now?
14:55Do you think that great question?
14:56Cause again, you objectively look at all
14:58the different players on the U S roster
15:00that started and played last night, you
15:02look at the guys from Belgium, very
15:04similar down the line of clubs, right?
15:06Are you playing for a, you know, Milan
15:09and Juventus and PSV Eindhoven and going
15:11all around the world and contributing
15:12You love saying PSV Eindhoven.
15:14It's one of my favorite things to do.
15:15Yeah.
15:15Cause several, several of their players
15:17on more shows than you haven't over
15:18the last two weeks, several players
15:20from the U S play for them.
15:20And you go, these are not little second
15:23division clubs.
15:24These are the multi-billion dollar ones
15:25that can play at high levels in these
15:27really serious leagues around the world.
15:29So talent wise, you're probably pretty
15:31similar.
15:31Belgium's more than you, but it's not
15:33like shouldn't, it's not four to one
15:34different.
15:35It's not like you're playing against
15:36some, uh, you know, uh, country that's
15:39lucky to be there.
15:40That's going, we're going to play 11 guys
15:41behind the ball, give you the first two
15:43thirds of the field and pray to God you
15:44don't score.
15:45But that's how the result looked like,
15:47right?
15:47I mean, to me, it's, it's everything under
15:48the sun where Belgium knew how to handle
15:50themselves in the U S didn't, there is a
15:52ton going on within DC sports that we
15:54will get to in just a few, including the
15:56Nats offense hanging 12 last night.
15:58James Wood hit a grand slam, Brandon
16:00Iuke dropping more commentary on social
16:03media.
16:03Hey mom, we got some Brandon Iuke social
16:06media content to discuss.
16:09So we'll do that as well, but I want to
16:11open up the phones before we keep it
16:12moving.
16:13This'll close down the soccer portion of
16:16the grant and Danny radio program for the
16:18next four years or so.
16:20How should we be feeling about the
16:22American display of soccer here in this
16:25tournament that this U S teams run?
16:28How do you feel about what they did and
16:31how far they got and how they played
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