Mauricio Pochettino is literally unstoppable.
Left and right, his assistants pumped their hands, clapped their hands, and celebrated. Not Pochettino. After Weston McKennie put the US in front and stopped a Belgian defense that freed him at the far post to knock the ball past Senne Lammens in the 39th minute, Pochettino just sat there, stoically, leaning forward in his chair, two fingers to his mouth.
This is the second time in the opening half that McKennie has found himself wide open at the far post on the corner and with the ball presenting itself to him in mid-air. The first time, Lammens had made a great reaction save to deny the point-blank Texan volley. Just then, things looked good for the home team in Atlanta, still floating on the momentum of four wins and a tie in the fall.
Perhaps Pochettino has come to his senses, realizing that there is almost an hour of football left to play. And in that range, longtime USMNT fans will feel déjà vu as their team disintegrated under the mounting pressure applied by the team from the Lowlands, a collapse all too similar to their elimination from their last two World Cups.
At the time of McKennie’s goal, Belgium had created some promising scoring chances and saw a goal by Charles De Ketelaere disallowed for offside. But going back seemed to remind Belgium that the game had already begun. From there, they methodically strung together five goals of all shapes and sizes: a daisy-cutter from outside the box; a low, placed shot; a curler; one penalty; close distance finish. They all went unanswered until, late on, Patrick Agyemang finally tallied one more for America.
Amazingly, things could have been worse. Matt Turner, finally back in goal for the US after a dozen games displaced by Matt Freese, made a raft of strong saves to keep Rout from running up further.
Pochettino’s side accumulated more possession during the match. But a Belgian team that cruised to the qualification for the upcoming World Cup without losing the game threatened more, connected and moved more incisively, and ultimately proved far more clinical in front of the goal, converting half of their 10 shots on goal. Therein lay the difference between this ascendant USMNT program and the sorts of opponents it aspires to match. Lost.
For Turner – Turner is bad, let him go back to the field finally, just to get his chance this game – contest brought to mind another useless defeat three-and-a-half years ago.
“It reminded me a lot of the Dutch matches at the World Cup, where you will be against a really experienced team that knows how to suffer, knows how to accept pressure and turn it around,” he said, likening Saturday’s humiliation to the 3-1 round-of-16 defeat to the Netherlands at the 2022 World Cup. “It was absolutely clinical in the final third.”
This loss to Belgium also felt like a benchmark when it was placed next to the 2-1 extra time defeat to the Red Devils in the last 16 of the World Cup 2014. Then, as now, the Belgians produced opportunities on an industrial scale, only the score was held by the American goalkeeper – Tim Howard set a World Cup record for saves.
If the first round on Saturday showed that the USMNT has gained a lot of ground, asserting itself against the power of global football, although it is hardly a World Cup favorite, the second raises the question of how much progress has really been made in almost a dozen years.
Usually, the reasonable answer lies somewhere in the middle.
But this particular loss was felt in the same way as the knockouts in 2014 and 2022, even as such in friendly matches. America flashed the same old naivety, not to mention the skill gap exposed by opponents who could match the US for physicality.
Some good ones can come on a dreary Saturday afternoon. Looking at one way, this truncheoning time is horrible, as the spotlight of this team sharpens at home until the long-awaited World Cup on home soil. Pochettino and his winger Tim Weah, who acquitted themselves relatively well in the impossible task of tying down Jérémy Doku, looked the other way.
“Definitely a difficult experience,” Weah told TNT. “We just have to go back to the lab and continue working. … Now is the best time for this to happen. We have the World Cup to think about.”
“This type of thing is good because we have time to improve,” added Pochettino. “It’s a good reality check for us.”
Of course, it is better to experience this collapse now than in three months. If you learn from it, that is. If time reveals it’s a teachable moment, it’s not a sign.
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Leander Schaerlaeckens’ book about the United States men’s national soccer team, The Long Game, comes out on May 12. You can preorder here. He teaches at Marist University.
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