Stop Being Intimidated By the Top

By all accounts, it was a successful World Cup for the U.S. Men's National Team.  In the end, though, it finished the same way as each of the Americans' last three World Cup appearances.  With a loss in the Round of 16 where they were outplayed by a superior opponent.  For the second time in 12 years, that opponent was Belgium.  Four years ago, it was their neighbor the Netherlands.  Both Top 10 European sides.  The type of teams the Americans will eventually need to learn how to beat--consistently--if they want to be considered one of the top teams themselves.

Timid.  Flat.  Overwhelmed.  Choose your adjective.  Point is it wasn't just a disappointing result.  It was their worst game of the tournament.  It was the type of performance that they too often have against strong European opposition.  Instead of rising to the occasion, the USMNT got sucked up by it.  It was clear which team has the experience at that level.  The U.S., on the other hand, looked like a deer in the headlights.

Throughout the World Cup, we've seen the best players in the world step up and perform at the highest level.  Kylian Mbappe, Lionel Messi, Harry Kane, Erling Haaland.  They've all starred.  Spectacularly so.  This was Christian Pulisic's chance to show he belonged among those elite names.  Against Belgium, however, he was a complete non-factor before being subbed off after 60 minutes.  It isn't the first time that's happened against a top-level opponent.

Unfortunately, that's a common theme for the USMNT.  For, as successful they are at the continental level, they still have a ways to go.  As their effort against Belgium made abundantly clear.  Because to be considered one of the best, you need to prove you belong among the best.  Which the U.S. Men's National Team is not.  Are they a very good team?  Yes.  Are they anywhere near the elite level?  Absolutely not.

With that in mind, perhaps the expectations on the team this summer should've been tempered.  As great as they looked in the first two games, they were against Paraguay and Australia.  Even the Round of 32 win was against Bosnia, a team they should beat.  To advance any further would've required beating multiple top European and/or South American teams.  Even if they'd topped Belgium, next up would've been Spain.  So, the quarterfinals was maybe the next that could've been expected.  Winning the World Cup was never gonna happen.

It isn't just European teams that give the U.S. trouble, either.  We've seen it plenty of times at Copa America.  They easily take care of the other CONCACAF teams and countries like Bolivia or Venezuela.  But, when it comes to crunch time and they have to face Argentina or Brazil, or even Colombia or Uruguay, the same thing as what we always see in the World Cup happens.  They're good enough to get to that point of the tournament, but not good enough to get any further.

At the World Cup, it's the same story every time.  The United States is good enough to get out of the group.  Which they do consistently.  That's the bare minimum expectation.  Now that there's a Round of 32, it's not unreasonable to think they should get a win there, depending on the matchup.  Thinking they'll go beyond the Round of 16, though, is incredibly optimistic.

Should reaching the quarterfinals (at least) at the World Cup be the goal?  Absolutely.  But there's a lot of work that needs to be done for that goal to be realistic.  And that needs to start with showing they can consistently compete with top-level European opponents.  Not just on the biggest stage, either.  All the time.

In the leadup to the World Cup, the United States played friendlies against Belgium, Portugal and Germany.  They lost them all, although, the Germany game was a very close 2-1 result (it should be noted here that the U.S. advanced further in the World Cup than Germany did and the U.S dominated the same Paraguay team that knocked the Germans out).  Prior to the Bosnia game, their last win against a European opponent was on Dec. 18, 2021, also against Bosnia.  

After two draws against Wales and England in the group stage at the 2022 World Cup, the U.S. fell to the Netherlands in the Round of 16.  That started a streak of 10 consecutive losses against European opposition.  That includes losses to Serbia and Slovenia, as well as top opponents like Germany, Portugal and Belgium.  In fact, they haven't beaten a European team other than Bosnia since a 2-1 win at Northern Ireland on March 28, 2021. 

Granted, the U.S. has limited opportunities to face European teams.  Outside of the World Cup, the only real chance is in friendlies.  And the windows to play friendlies against European opponents, especially top ones, aren't always there.  Which is why they need to take advantage of them when they do happen.  You can't just play Belgium.  You need to actually compete against Belgium.  And the only way to do that is to face that type of competition as often as you can.

Being in CONCACAF obviously complicates matters a little.  The United States and Mexico are far superior to the rest of CONCACAF, yet still have to play opponents like Trinidad & Tobago and Jamaica regularly.  There's nothing they can do about that.  Which is why it's even more important to schedule as many games as possible against top-level European and South American countries...the type of team you'll face in the later stages in a World Cup.

There's only so much the U.S. and Mexico can get out of their frequent matchups against each other.  That was evident in their respective World Cup Round of 16 games.  They were the hugest games for the two home teams in years.  For their higher-ranked European opponents, England and Belgium, it was no big deal.  They see teams better than the U.S. and Mexico all the time.  They're both better teams, and they both proved it.  Simply put, the United States and Mexico aren't on the same level.  (Mexico, to its credit, at least showed up against England and could've won.)

For as great and thrilling as the USMNT's World Cup run was, it also showed that the U.S. still has a long way to go.  The loss to Turkiye can be explained away.  The loss to Belgium can't.  Would they have lost that game anyway?  Maybe.  I'd even venture to say probably.  They needed to play a perfect game and have Belgium make mistakes.  Neither of those things happened.

If they don't want to be embarrassed by a European team in the knockout stage of the 2030 World Cup (the U.S. has never won a World Cup game on European soil, BTW), they need to actually rise to the occasion.  Which requires being properly prepared for the occasion.  It's not a question of talent, either.  Most of the American starting lineup plays professionally in Europe.  They see these guys every week in league competition.  So that's not the issue.  It has to be something else.  It's something they need to figure out.

The United States is one of the 20 best men's soccer teams in the world.  They should, and do, regularly beat the teams below them.  But, as the loss to Belgium proved, the gap between the United States and those teams above them is huge.  And that gap can only be closed if they aren't intimidated by the name of their opponent.  Because when that happens, you've already lost before the game even starts.