‘US Soccer isn’t ready for prime time’: Americans react to USMNT’s dismal World Cup exit

Don’t cry because it’s over. Smile because it happened… right? right?

After a crushing defeat by Belgium, the United States’ World Cup dreams ended in the round of 16. After a series of encouraging performances in the group stages, especially a convincing 4-1 win over Paraguay, hopes were that the US men’s national team would advance to the quarterfinals for the first time since 2002. Unfortunately, the first contact with a quality opponent in this tournament and everything turned into something of a nightmare for the US Soccer Federation, and fans, new and old, were left a little stunned.

First, there’s nothing to be ashamed of losing to Belgium, a team that now sits eighth in the FIFA men’s world rankings, while the United States is 16th. Also, according to comparative team value, Belgium’s 26 players are worth $626.18 million, according to Transfermarkt, while the US players are worth $441.07 million. The Belgian squad also includes players like Thibaut Courtois, Leandro Trossard, Jeremy Doku and Kevin De Bruyne who have won the biggest trophies in club football such as the Champions League and the English Premier League, while American star Christian Pulisic, to be very honest, is not even among the top 100 footballers in the world, according to the latest news. Guardian A poll of the best players in the game (Belgium has three in the top 100).

So overall, Belgium were favorites to win and face Spain in the quarter-finals. This was above all the possible additional motivation offered by Troussard and his colleagues. I have followed the entire horrific Folarin Balogun case (thanks Mr. President!).

However, after all that buildup, the advantage on the field, and the cheering of tens of millions of players, this loss hurts so much, American fans were shocked at how bad their team was performing when the hype train collided with reality. The reaction was swift, with emotions going from pure to rotten over the course of the 90 minutes (plus stoppage time).

Naturally, the schadenfreude over the loss was taken by rival fans and media from other countries by the United States, a team that started the tournament with a fair amount of goodwill that has been squandered in the past 48 hours by reports that Donald Trump has put pressure on FIFA to overturn Balogun’s suspension. But the internal reaction was as brutal as any foreign trolling.

On Fox, Carli Lloyd (two-time World Cup winner and two-time Olympic champion) was particularly scathing (and honest!) about the USMNT, and Pulisic in particular. “It’s a little disappointing for us to be here now after this loss, but I felt like they lost the game before they even got out on the field,” Lloyd said. “I’m not sure why, I don’t know the reasons, but just from the beginning, I was being chased, hesitant, afraid, just not confident on the ball. And I think the big players – I wanted some of those big players to step up in the big moments.”

“I have to be honest, I’m a bit disappointed in Christian Pulisic,” Lloyd added. “I think whether he wants to be the star of this team or not, we didn’t see enough from him in this particular match and in the entire World Cup.”

Also on Fox, the much-maligned Alexei Lalas was unsparing in his criticism of the Americans. “There’s a part of me that says the time for moral victories is over,” Lalas said after the match. “We left something on the table here, and that’s disappointing for me. I also know it will be disappointing for the players and Mauricio Pochettino when this match looks. The goals they scored sometimes went to a better team, but this American team has beaten better teams in the past.” Lalas added that the team came out “with a groan, not a roar.”

The manner of the defeat, and the way it appears to have deflated the bubble of optimism among American fans, alarmed Fox, at least judging by the words of the commentators, who implored viewers to keep watching the World Cup despite the national team’s disappointing exit. “If you enjoyed what you saw, well, support your local team,” Fox anchor John Strong told viewers. “This shouldn’t be the last football you watch for the next four years. It’s a beautiful sport.”

Barstool founder Dave Portnoy, a man who must be used to heartbreak and failure after succumbing to huge hype as a Spurs fan, was also frank in his assessment. “US Soccer is not ready for prime time,” Portnoy said on Twitter. “I don’t want to be mean, but this team is embarrassing. We’ll never be good at this sport as long as we do.” [our] Played by Class D athletes. What a clown show.

Bill Simmons, another Spurs fan who should be more comfortable with his team being Spurs, was sad and morose during the post-match episode of Bill Simmons Podcastwhich was streamed live on Netflix. “The only narrative I won’t accept is that it’s like, ‘Oh, we would have won if Trump hadn’t brought back Balogun’… We were bad! It had nothing to do with anything. The team was terrible. That was the worst we’ve ever played. It wasn’t just worse when we played in the tournament, but I watched a lot of football.” [at the World Cup]…and this is the worst anyone He’s played for about a week, when we’re talking about the last 32 games, the last 16 games.

Here are some of the best social media reactions to the United States’ dismal exit from the 2026 World Cup.