SEATTLE — Even with Folarin Balogun back up front, the United States men’s national team crashed out of the World Cup in the round of 16 once again.
It was a meek ending to a month-long surge for the U.S. here on Monday, as Belgium dominated the Americans — and silenced a once-raucous crowd at Lumen Field — in a 4-1 defeat.
Charles De Ketelaere scored twice for the Belgians and Hans Vanaken took advantage of an ugly mistake from U.S. goalkeeper Matt Freese to finish the U.S. off. Romelo Lukaku’s blasted shot from close range off another giveaway in stoppage time was vicious, but academic.
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It is the fourth time in the last five World Cups that the Americans have exited at this stage; the only exception was 2018, when they did not even qualify.
Belgium also sent the U.S. home from the 2014 World Cup but that game, which went to extra time, felt much closer than this one.
The U.S. was dazzling in the group stage and grinded out an impressive victory over Bosnia-Herzegovina in the round of 32 — playing with 10 men for more than a half hour after their top scorer, Balogun, was sent off — so the U.S. players and the fans had high hopes of reaching just the second quarterfinal in program history.
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Instead, the Americans unraveled. Christian Pulisic was wholly ineffective — he turned the ball over 11 times in the first half, more than anyone on the field —and Sergiño Dest was such a liability on the right that coach Mauricio Pochettino pulled him at halftime. Balogun, who scored three goals and forced a fourth via own-goal in the first four U.S. games, ran aimlessly for most of the match, never threatening in a meaningful way.
Expectations, of course, were much higher, as the buildup to the match had been dominated by Balogun’s unusual situation. President Donald Trump and other White House officials took credit for helping U.S. Soccer successfully make its case that FIFA should adjust the one-game suspension customarily served by anyone receiving a red card, and the discourse around that reality ran the gamut. Some (mostly U.S. fans) felt it was justice appropriately served, others (even some who support the US) worried about the precedent and procedure.
The machinations of it all were complicated. Not surprisingly, the U.S. players were uninterested in the details. “I have no clue how it happened,” Alex Freeman said. “We’re just happy it happened.”
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So, too, were most of the fans at Lumen Field. Balogun received a massive cheer when he came on to the field for warmups, and after a full-throated singing of the national anthem that rang out throughout the stadium, it felt as if the U.S. should have been buzzing.
Yet for the first time in five matches, they started slow. Belgium dictated from kickoff, and it fizzed its first dangerous cross almost immediately. Timothy Castagne forced Freese to full stretch with a blistering shot from distance inside a minute. The midfield looked stuck.
Belgium kept coming. Attacking from the left about nine minutes in, Leandro Trossard cut through to start a move and the ball popped up in the air near the top of the area. Nicolas Raskin reacted quickest, jumping in front of Dest, and turned it perfectly back across goal for De Keteleare, who stepped right in between Tim Ream and Antonee Robinson to poke the ball home.
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The stadium, so loud moments earlier, went silent, save for the sliver of Belgium fans. The U.S. had conceded the opening goal for the first time this tournament.
There wasn’t much of an immediate response, either. But after the hydration break, the US put together a slight surge and were rewarded when Malik Tillman’s free kick from the top of the area took a wicked deflection off the Belgian wall. Tillman celebrated — he’s only the second player in the last 60 years to score two free-kick goals in a World Cup — and, however unlikely, the U.S. was level.
It didn’t last. Like, not even a minute. Just 52 seconds after tying the score, Belgium came forward again. The script was familiar: Trossard broke down the left. Dest was stranded. The cross was perfect. And De Keteleare slipped in front of Robinson and over Ream to head home as the U.S. was deflated again.
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The second half did not offer much more. Gio Reyna came on for Dest but there was little breakthrough. Any momentum the U.S. might have gathered was then blunted by Freese’s woeful miscue. After coming out of his area to trap a through ball, Freese hesitated in kicking it forward before booting it straight to Vanaken. The Belgian midfielder cooly shot it back toward goal from about 30 yards out, and Ream — despite trying desperately to bail out his goalkeeper — got his legs twisted up as the ball sailed through.
Ream bent at the waist. Freese put his hands to his head. The Belgians celebrated as the crowd groaned. The U.S. — at its familiar exit — was on its way out again.
