Was the USMNT’s 5-2 loss to Belgium a wake-up call or reality check?

Christian Polanco and Alexis Guerreros of The Cooligans react to the United States’ 5-2 loss to Belgium. Check out the full conversation on the “The Cooligans” podcast – and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you listen.

Video Transcript

Right, so look, we gotta ask the question, is this a wake-up call or a reality check for the US?

Because th- this was a, a very sobering game.

I think we were really excited, especially with all the men’s national team players playing for their clubs, like, looking pretty good- Yeah pretty sharp, b- in between windows.

even the Like, a, a Sebastian Berhalter, who got to the, the MLS Cup final.

Weston McKennie doing amazing things in Champions League.

We just And players coming back from injury.

We- Yeah, man I was just in a place where I’m like, “Man, this…” I f- I feel like we’re gonna go toe-to-toe with Belgium, and we did not go toe-to- No, we went, we went toe-to-no.

I think at the end of the day, I will Okay, there’s a two-part answer here.

One, I still believe that friendlies don’t matter.

Like, the result, the result don’t matter.

So, you know what?

Now, friendlies matter- Everybody, turn off the show.

You don’t even gotta watch this.

Hear me, hear me out.

Friendlies matter.

Obviously, you need to play the games.

The result itself, 5-2, shouldn’t necessarily matter.

What matters is how you played the game, right?

You can Both teams made five subs in the second half at one point, and, you know, those, those can change games.

The difference is, all right, in those moments where you’re closest to A team is in, right?

And that was the beginning of the match.

Yeah.

Maybe not necessarily your A team, but that’s pretty close to what an A team will feel like in the World Cup.

How did they play?

In the first half, I walk away saying, “Yo, we stood toe-to-toe.”

What bothers me is they made very small tactical changes, and it completely blew up our system.

We had no way of handling that.

That, to me, is where I sit there and say, “Okay, 5 to 2 doesn’t feel good,” but that’s necessarily, that’s not necessarily my takeaway.

My takeaway is, “Hey, Team A, good job out there.”

In fact, I would say probably up until the 35th minute, I thought USA were in control.

Yeah.

It was a, it was a, a, a pretty, composed- But after that first half.

But after that, even before the, McKennie goal, it was, the goal that was turned, you know, that was taken back because of the handball from Belgium.

Yeah.

r- right, but right then was, like, the moment where they started to get a little scary, but then Weston McKennie scores, and we’re like, “All right, we good.”

Yeah.

“We got no problems here.”

And then, boom, we get this, I mean, the, the first goal, a, a goal from outside the box, from, what was his name?

De Bast.

And it was, it was quite the fast, the shot, but We both get to pick the buttons on that one.

But you still feel like, somebody either gets, should get in the way of that shot, or, Matt Turner should, should get a hand on it.

Matt Turner hesitated.

It was just a, a m- I think there was a- It was a, it was a low-lying shot from outside the box that he had clear view of the entire way.

He thought Tim Ream was going to deflect it, which is why- Yeah he hesitated.

He got his hands to the ball.

He did.

If he would’ve not hesitated, that would’ve been a great save, but a save nonetheless.

Yeah, uh-

Was the USMNT’s 5-2 loss to Belgium a wake-up call or reality check?

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