The United States Men’s National Team crashed out of the 2026 World Cup in a 4-1 defeat to Belgium on Monday night in Seattle. The much anticipated Round of 16 matchup, turned sour just minutes into the game when the Belgians came out and took it to the United States. Less than a minute into the game, U.S. Goalkeeper Matt Freese made an incredible diving save, to tip a shot, heading for the upper corner, over the bar. From there, Belgium didn’t stop the pressure. The Americans looked incredibly timid and slow, as if the moment was too big for them. It ended up costing them as Charles De Ketelaere scored an easy tap in goal, in the ninth minute to get Belgians off and running.

From there, the U.S. seemingly couldn’t get into the game. In the 31st minute, Malik Tillman gave the U.S. a lifeline with another free kick goal, tying the game at 1-1 and sending Seattle into a frenzy. The glory and happiness was short lived. Just 61 seconds later, De Ketelaere once again took advantage of a lazy U.S. defense and gave Belgium the lead that they wouldn’t relinquish.

After the much needed halftime break, the U.S. came out and played a much better second half. It wasn’t all great though, in the 57th minute, a clown show unfolded as Freese came way off his line to meet a long ball, chested in down and in his attempt to pass it, kicked the ground and Hans Vanaken took possession. Vanaken fired a shot from long range and beat stumbling defender Tim Ream to put the first dagger in the hearts of the Americans. Belgium’s all-time leading scorer, Romelu Lukaku made it worse, which was seemingly impossible, scoring in the 93rd minute to make it 4-1 to Belgium, knocking the U.S. out of the 2026 World Cup in embarrassing fashion.

The team looked lost, uninspired, in awe of the moment, slow and there’s probably a few more adjectives to describe the abysmal showing. The biggest players failed to show up for you in the biggest moment. The team as a whole was not up for it. You had a few players whose light shined a little brighter but overall, it was ugly. Lumen Field in Seattle was an electric factory as the atmosphere was fit for the moment. Many players dream of playing in front of a crowd like this and they weren’t given much to be excited about.

After all of the good will the Americans had building up to this match, it was immediately lost in this performance. Now what? That is the biggest question coming out of this World Cup. The so called “Golden Generation” of U.S. soccer was supposed to lead this country to great things during this tournament. That was anything but true. In the years leading up to the tournament, this team was a complete disaster. The U.S. has gone 25-4-14 in 43 matches since the 2022 World Cup. While the record looks good, many of those wins were against much lesser competition. In competitions facing quality opponents, the U.S. fell flat. For example, hosting the 2024 Copa America tournament, the U.S. failed to make it out of their group. The Copa America was the perfect tournament to get this team ready for the World Cup and the U.S. failed to impress. In the two March friendlies against Belgium and Portugal, the expectations were almost floored based off the results. A 5-2 drubbing at the hands of Belgium before falling 2-0 to Cristiano Ronaldo and Portugal, were not the best look heading into the World Cup.

Now, coming out of this tournament, one thing has been made certain. Results like this, will be the best the U.S. will ever see. There might be the off year where they make it to the quarterfinals but aside from that, you’re looking at the best the U.S. can accomplish. With all of the talent around this country and abroad, it is stunning to see where the U.S. falls in the hierarchy of world soccer. When they come up against higher competition, the U.S. fail to show up. There are many questions now moving forward in regards to what the team will look like heading into the 2030 edition of the World Cup. Will Mauricio Pochettino be the one to lead this team into that qualifying cycle or will he head back to club soccer? U.S. Soccer will continue talks with Pochettino to be their head coach moving forward but that is still up in the air. Time is of the essence here and U.S. soccer simply cannot get this wrong.

These next few years are going to be very interesting to see where the U.S. head and how the future of the USMNT unfolds.

Chris Asbrock and Impact Sports Cincinnati can be followed on Twitter   and