{"id":4444,"date":"2026-07-07T05:03:40","date_gmt":"2026-07-07T05:03:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=4444"},"modified":"2026-07-07T05:03:40","modified_gmt":"2026-07-07T05:03:40","slug":"americans-outclassed-once-again-in-world-cup-loss-to-belgium","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=4444","title":{"rendered":"Americans outclassed, once again, in World Cup loss to Belgium"},"content":{"rendered":"
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In the end it wasn\u2019t about controversy and conspiracies and cronyism and whether or not Folarin Balogun should have been permitted to play. It was about which team could meet the moment with survival and advancement on the line.<\/span><\/p>\n

Read more Red Sox\u2019 Willson Contreras, awaiting suspension appeal, gets introspective (and stays productive)<\/a><\/p>\n

And when Monday night\u2019s World Cup round-of-16 showdown was complete in Seattle, it was Belgium still standing and the United States walking through the exit after a 4-1 decision that left no doubt as to which team was superior.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThey have 11 players, not only Balogun,\u201d Belgian keeper Thibaut Courtois had observed on Sunday after FIFA reversed the decision to suspend the Americans\u2019 top gun in the wake of his red-card expulsion in the match with Bosnia-Herzegovina.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

And just as they were in 2014 when Belgium beat the United States, 2-1, in extra time in the round of 16, the Red Devils\u2019 11 were demonstrably better. Balogun, who spent most of the evening on his own, couldn\u2019t beat them by himself.<\/span><\/p>\n

For all of the why-not-us? bullishness of the tournament\u2019s first fortnight the Americans hadn\u2019t met an opponent among the global top 20. Except for the irrelevant group finale against Turkey, when nine reserves started, they\u2019d never been behind.<\/span><\/p>\n

Related: <\/span><\/span>Folarin Balogun has little impact in US World Cup loss<\/div>\n

Their only experience being under assault was when they played shorthanded against the Bosnians, who are not skilled attackers.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Belgians, a legitimate top-10 team, definitely were. From the first minute they had the Yanks pedaling in reverse. Just nine minutes in Nicholas Raskin centered to Charles De Ketelaere, who split Tim Ream and Antonee Robinson and easily tapped the ball in.<\/span><\/p>\n

After Malik Tillman equalized with a rocket free kick in the 31st minute it took the Red Devils barely a minute to regain the lead. This time Leandro Trossard beat Sergino Dest and De Ketelaere outjumped Ream for a header.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cEverybody saw from the beginning we didn\u2019t connect with the game, we were never in the game,\u201d said US coach Mauricio Pochettino, who kicked over the water bucket in disgust. \u201cEven when we scored the goal, 1-1, we conceded the next action. It was really tough from the beginning.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

As it always has been with the Americans, falling behind was fatal. They\u2019ve never won a Cup match when their opponent scored first. When they met in 2014 the Belgians scored the first two in extra time and the US squad never could draw level.<\/span><\/p>\n

Belgium, which meets Spain in Friday\u2019s quarterfinals, may not be at Europe\u2019s top level alongside the Spaniards, French, and English. But the Red Devils are an experienced and savvy bunch who know how to punish rivals who give them an opening.<\/span><\/p>\n

Read more Bill Chisholm says the Jaylen Brown trade was \u2018not about the money,\u2019 but Celtics fans won\u2019t buy that<\/a><\/p>\n

Related: <\/span><\/span>Emotional night for fans at Boston watch party as Belgium eliminates US from World Cup<\/div>\n

They were all but dead in their round-of-32 encounter with Senegal, down by two goals with four minutes left in regulation. They won, 3-2, in the final seconds before the match went to a shootout. The Americans have never had to do that.<\/span><\/p>\n

Belgium, which hammered the Americans, 5-2, in a March tuneup in Atlanta, knew exactly how to expose and exploit them.<\/span><\/p>\n

They knew how to get them scrambling in transition, how to dispossess them deftly, how to win one-on-one battles in the final third, how to turn their defenders around, how to pounce on a bouncing ball.<\/span><\/p>\n

The killer this time was the third goal in the 57th minute. It came off a long ball from Brandon Mechele that keeper Matt Freese chested on the hop and ended up kicking off De Ketelaere. Hans Vanaken gathered it and drilled a 35-yarder that deflected off Ream and in with Freese well off his line.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Belgians had the Yanks tripping over themselves all night. Christian Pulisic, their mainspring who came off just before the hour after injuring his foot, wasn\u2019t a factor, turning the ball over nearly a dozen times in the first half.<\/span><\/p>\n

Balogun was dangerous but he was a man alone. Had Courtois not blocked his blast in the 82nd, the US team might have been able to make a desperate surge in the final 10 minutes.<\/span><\/p>\n

Related: <\/span><\/span>Is there anything World Cup fans despise more than the hydration breaks?<\/div>\n

But when Romelu Lukaku, Belgium\u2019s elder statesman turned super sub, knocked in the fourth after three minutes of stoppage time this American Dream was abruptly over. It simply ran into reality.<\/span><\/p>\n

Getting to the quarterfinals for the first time since 2002 seemed possible, especially before packed houses on the West Coast. The co-hosts were younger, faster, and more physical than the Belgians. What they weren\u2019t were more seasoned, more poised, more ruthless.<\/span><\/p>\n

Their European rivals always are, which is why they routinely boot the United States out of the tournament once the alternative is extinction. The Americans went out the way they always go out \u2014 because they weren\u2019t good enough to go on. No presidential phone call ever was going to change that.<\/span><\/p>\n

Read more Folarin Balogun starts for US against Belgium after suspension lifted<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

European rivals always are more seasoned, poised, and ruthless, which is why they routinely boot the United States out of the tournament once the alternative is extinction. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4443,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4444","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sport"],"yoast_head":"\nAmericans outclassed, once again, in World Cup loss to Belgium - Boston Relocation Insider<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=4444\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Americans outclassed, once again, in World Cup loss to Belgium - 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