After 12 years, a USMNT loss to Belgium still carries a World Cup weight | USA

Mauricio Pochettino was literally unmoved.

To his left and right, his aides pumped their fists, applauded and stood up in celebration. Not Pochettino. After Weston McKennie gave the United States the lead with a run around the Belgian defense that released him at the far post to slot the ball past Senne Lammens in the 39th minute, Pochettino stood there, stoic, leaning forward in his seat, two fingers to his mouth.

It was the second time in the first half that McKennie found himself wide open at the far post on a corner and with the ball coming to him in the air. The first time, Lammens had produced a wonderful reaction by stopping the Texan’s volley at point blank range. At that point, things were looking good for the home team in Atlanta, still riding a four-win, one-draw fall streak.

Perhaps Pochettino was prescient, well aware that there was almost an hour of football left to play. And during that time, longtime USMNT fans would have felt a sense of deja vu as their team disintegrated under increasing pressure from a Lowlands team, a collapse all too similar to their elimination from their last two World Cups.

By the time of McKennie’s goal, Belgium had already created a few promising scoring chances and had a Charles De Ketelaere goal disallowed for offside. But falling behind seemed to alert Belgium that the game had indeed started. From there, they methodically strung together five goals of all shapes and sizes: an off-the-beaten-path daisy-cutter; a low, placed shot; a curler; a penalty; a close range finish. They all went unanswered until, late on, Patrick Agyemang scored another for the Americans.

Surprisingly, things could have been much worse. Matt Turner, finally back in goal for the United States after a dozen games displaced by Matt Freese, made a series of solid saves to prevent the rout from extending further.

Pochettino’s side accumulated more possession during the match. But a Belgian team that qualified for the next World Cup without losing a single match was more threatening, connected and moved more incisively, and ultimately was much more clinical in front of goal, converting half of its 10 shots on goal. Therein lies the difference between this ascendant USMNT schedule and the type of opponents it aspires to face. Always.

To Turner – poor Turner, finally sent back on the field, to get his chance This game – the contest brought to mind another practical defeat three and a half years ago.

“It reminded me a lot of the Netherlands game in the World Cup, where you play a very experienced team that knows how to suffer, knows how to accept pressure and then turn around,” he recalled, comparing Saturday’s humility to the 3-1 round of 16 defeat to the Netherlands at the 2022 World Cup. “They were absolutely clinical in the final third.”

That defeat to Belgium also felt like something of a benchmark, next to the 2-1 extra-time loss to the Red Devils in the 2014 World Cup round of 16. Then as now, the Belgians were creating chances on an industrial scale, but the scoreline was held up by an American goalkeeper – Tim Howard setting a World Cup record for saves.

If Saturday’s first half suggested that the USMNT had gained substantial ground, asserting itself against a global soccer powerhouse even though it is hardly a World Cup favorite, the second begged the question of how much progress had actually been made in nearly a dozen years.

Usually the sensible answer lies somewhere in between.

Yet this particular defeat was telling in the same way as those knockouts of 2014 and 2022, even in a friendly. The Americans displayed the same old naivety, not to mention a skills deficit exposed by an adversary that could match the United States in physicality.

The dreary Saturday afternoon could still bring some good. From one perspective, the timing of this bludgeoning was terrible, just as the attention on this team is growing in the final stretch leading up to the long-awaited World Cup on home soil. Pochettino and his winger Tim Weah, who performed the impossible task of chaining Jérémy Doku relatively well, saw things differently.

“It’s definitely a difficult experience,” Weah told TNT. “We just have to go back to the lab and keep working. … Right now is the best time for this to happen. We have to think about a World Cup.”

“This kind of thing is good because we have time to improve,” added Pochettino. “It’s a good reality check for us.”

Certainly, it is better to suffer this collapse now than in three months. If you learn from it, of course. If time reveals this was a teachable moment rather than an omen.

• Leander Schaerlaeckens’ book about the United States men’s national soccer team, The Long Game, will be released on May 12. You can pre-order it here. He teaches at Marist University.