The U.S. Men’s National Team enjoyed many highs at the 2026 FIFA World Cup but eventually endured its worst performance in a familiar spot of the competition.
A 4-1 loss to Belgium ended the Americans run in the tournament, marking the fourth time in the past five World Cup editions that they’ve suffered elimination in the Round of 16. Despite victories over Paraguay and Australia in group stage play and a 2-0 shutout result over Bosnia-Herzegovina in the Round of 32, the USMNT were brought down to earth by the Belgians in Seattle.
Veteran defender and team captain Tim Ream said that the USMNT’s exit was shocking to him and the rest of the squad, especially given how strong they were earlier in the tournament.
“It’s disbelief,” Ream said on ESPN’s “The Pat McAfee Show” Thursday. “It’s trying to put together and understand what had just gone on because it was polar opposite of the way we had played up to that point.
“I think the feeling in the room was shock and trying to understand where and why we had the game that we did.”
Despite having Folarin Balogun’s red-card suspension overturned for the Round of 16, mostly all of the USMNT players delivered their worst performances of the summer in the defeat. Malik Tillman scored the lone goal of the match and was a lone bright spot, but Balogun was held in check, star attacker Christian Pulisic disappointed, and several players made key errors en route to Belgian goals.
Ream did not single out any of his teammates though, admitting it was an overall letdown by the entire team as a whole.
“You mentioned Christian there, but I don’t think anybody had their best game by any stretch,” Ream said. “It just seemed like everything that could go wrong was gonna go wrong that night, which is a shame because we put so much work in to get to that point.”
While many will be disappointed with the USMNT’s Round of 16 exit, the squad did deliver many program over the summer. The Americans delivered back-to-back group stage wins for the first time in 96 years, registered a new program record with three World Cup victories in a single tournament, and posted their most goals yet (11).
Several players impressed in their World Cup debuts such as Balogun, Tillman, fullback Alex Freeman, and centerback Chris Richards. Veterans like Tyler Adams and Weston McKennie led by example while Matt Freese was a calm presence in between the posts at times.
Ream believes that the overall imprint left by the USMNT this summer will ultimately be what the players look back on down the road.
“One of the secondary conversations that we were having as a as a group was how can we inspire and get more people to love this game?” Ream said. “How can we get them to fall in love with the game, be passionate about the game, get behind the team, get behind the sport even more? And what is it going to take from from us as players to do that?
“And that was right,” he added. “We need to put on performances and win games and throughout the tournament we felt it grow and grow. And from that standpoint, I think we’re proud of the performances and of the games that we did win.”
The USMNT will be back in action this fall as they next prepare for the return of the CONCACAF Nations League.
Source: Sbisoccer.com
