USMNT dealt harsh lesson by Belgium before World Cup

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ATLANTA – This time the humbling happened on home soil, before a massive, supportive crowd of 66,867 at mighty Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

But Saturday afternoon’s “reality check” loss to high-powered Belgium, in the words of head coach Mauricio Pochettino, felt the wrong kind of familiar for Matt Turner, sending him back nearly four years to the night the US men’s national team’s 2022 FIFA World Cup dreams ended in a Round-of-16 setback to European royalty in Al Rayyan, Qatar.

“It reminded me a lot of the Netherlands game in the World Cup,” the New England Revolution goalkeeper told reporters after the Yanks’ 5-2 friendly loss, “where we're going against a really experienced team that knows how to suffer, knows how to accept pressure, and then turn around – and they were absolutely clinical in the final third.

“I mean, some of the goals tonight were pretty spectacular.”

Thank you for your support today, Atlanta.

We turn the page to Tuesday night as we take on Portugal. pic.twitter.com/9HRPlKONZx

— U.S. Soccer Men's National Team (@USMNT) March 28, 2026

Top-tier opponent

Tests like these against truly elite opposition remain a bridge too far for the USMNT, just as they have for decades, despite American soccer’s enormous progress in every aspect. The Yanks have now lost seven straight games against European opponents dating back to that cool desert evening in Qatar, outscored 20-6 in the process.

To borrow from video-game terminology, this is the ‘final boss’ for the US men to defeat, and they know their aspirations of a deep run in this summer’s World Cup on North American soil hinge on finding a way to overcome the challenge.

The home side were superior to their guests in the first half, stretching the Belgians with their energy and movement, snatching an early lead via Weston McKennie’s corner-kick finish.

“We were breaking the lines and playing in between the lines and just exposing their weaknesses,” said McKennie postgame. “I think we maybe could have exposed their weaknesses a little bit more. I feel like they struggled a little bit with the balls in behind the lines.”

The Yanks failed to protect that advantage, leaking an equalizer just before halftime and fading badly after the break as the Red Devils shifted into a higher gear and dominated, paced by Manchester City’s devastatingly effervescent winger Jérémy Doku – the game’s “catalyst,” as his manager Rudi Garcia phrased it.

“For many moments of the game, I think we play with the rhythm and the speed that the game required,” said Pochettino. “The problem was to keep that intensity.

“In the moments that we matched the intensity of Belgium, I think we were even or in some moments we were better. But it’s true that when we dropped a little bit in our intensity – and how we can confirm that is, in too many actions we were in place, we have superiority, but we were not aggressive enough, like in the way that we concede the first goal. Because I think in this action we have 10 players inside the [penalty] box, but we were not aggressive enough.”

MCKENNIE MAGIC IN FRONT OF NET! ?#USMNT x @VW pic.twitter.com/jYEJyy2VjJ

— U.S. Soccer Men's National Team (@USMNT) March 28, 2026

Lessons learned

Handed his first USMNT start since last June, Turner looked pained as he spoke to the media, perhaps most of all as he recalled that subtle but costly lack of defensive urgency when Belgium pushed his side back into their own end.

“In the end, we didn't defend our box well enough, and I think that's something that we cannot have,” said Turner, the US No. 1 at the last World Cup but seemingly a step behind New York City FC’s Matt Freese for this one. “We can't accept that we didn't lay everything on the line to keep the ball out of the back of the net, because that's when our tails should be up the most.

“They are great reminders for us of what the level is going to be like, and then our minimum standard of what we should expect from ourselves,” he added. “Credit to Belgium, but all of what went wrong tonight wasn't just on how good they were. We were also pretty poor in certain areas.”

As he praised the strong US start that left his team laboring in the early going, Garcia made clear that this scoreline did not accurately reflect the run of play. Pochettino and Yanks star Christian Pulisic agreed, while cognizant of what cold comfort that really is.

“We played well for big stretches of the game, but then it's just fine margins. I mean, it's just – we have to be a bit more clinical,” said Pulisic, acknowledging that his squad must “take this on the chin” and raise their level vs. Portugal on Tuesday.

“Overall, it's a tough result for us, but I don't feel like it was a 5-2 game, necessarily. So there's some things that we could definitely take positive from it, but some things for sure we have to work on.”

Patrick Agyemang capitalizes on Ricardo Pepi's press for his sixth USMNT goal ?? pic.twitter.com/sJbe4zxiu3

— B/R Football (@brfootball) March 28, 2026

Reaction needed

One odd complicating factor for both sides, which hopefully won’t happen in the World Cup: a pronounced lack of color contrast between Belgium’s pastel-splashed away kit and the new flag-inspired uniform debuted by the USMNT, with multiple players saying they struggled to distinguish between the two sides when making decisions at high speed.

“That’s not an excuse at all, because both teams deal with it. But that just, that can’t happen. That was a bit strange,” said Pulisic. “Everyone was a bit shocked … It's difficult. A lot of times, you get the ball, you look up, like, you can't really lock in on someone. You only can base it off the color of the shirt, that's how it works.”

Tuesday now looms large. A stronger outing vs. Portugal will be crucial for morale and belief.

“It's a good preparation game for us,” Ricardo Pepi said of the Portuguese, No. 5 in the current FIFA World Rankings. “We need these types of games, so it's going to be a fun one.”

• National Writer: Charles Boehm
• United States
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