{"id":9342,"date":"2026-03-29T20:27:22","date_gmt":"2026-03-29T20:27:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/9342\/"},"modified":"2026-03-29T20:27:22","modified_gmt":"2026-03-29T20:27:22","slug":"ruthless-belgium-shows-usmnt-it-must-play-complete-game-against-top-teams","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/9342\/","title":{"rendered":"Ruthless Belgium shows USMNT it must play complete game against top teams"},"content":{"rendered":"

ATLANTA \u2014 39 minutes into Saturday\u2019s match between the United States and Belgium, U.S. fullback Antonee Robinson whipped a corner into the box and found midfielder Weston McKennie, who volleyed home from close range.<\/p>\n

USMNT fans filling Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta erupted as the home team took a 1-0 lead.<\/p>\n

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Up to this point, the United States had played with the intensity and quality needed to keep up with one of the strongest teams in the world.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe started bad,\u201d Belgium head coach Rudi Garcia said after the game. \u201cBut it was also because USA was more aggressive than us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Belgium\u2019s bad start didn\u2019t last much longer. The USMNT allowed a goal just before the halftime whistle, then proceeded to let in two more just 15 minutes into the second half. A brace from Belgian winger Dodi Luk\u00e9bakio and a late goal from US striker Patrick Agyemang rounded out the scoring in a 5-2 Belgium win.<\/p>\n

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The first-half performance and the second half performance were two different stories. In one half, the US stayed level with a top-ranked team. In the other, they could barely keep up.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s one of the things that we can work on, for sure,\u201d McKennie said. \u201cBeing able to stay consistent on how we start the game to how we finish it with the same intensity.\u201d<\/p>\n

Containing Belgium\u2019s attacks on the wing became more difficult as time went on.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a guy that you have to double team,\u201d Weah said of Belgium’s star winger J\u00e9r\u00e9my Doku, who caused problems all night for the US. \u201cSo when you draw a player out, there\u2019s a player open, and I think they benefited off of that.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Belgium continued to take advantage of the United States\u2019 defensive missteps throughout the second half.<\/p>\n

On Belgium\u2019s second goal, three U.S. players collapsed onto Belgium\u2019s Alexis Saelmaekers, leaving no one around to contest Amadou Onana\u2019s first-time shot. Later, a poor touch from Sebastian Berhalter set up Luk\u00e9bakio in the box to score Belgium\u2019s fifth goal of the night.<\/p>\n

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Nike unveils new USMNT and USWNT kits for 2026<\/p>\n

PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA – NOVEMBER 9: Diego Luna of the United States poses during a USMNT portrait session on November 9, 2025 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n

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PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA – NOVEMBER 9: Diego Luna of the United States poses during a USMNT portrait session on November 9, 2025 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n

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PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA – NOVEMBER 9: Tim Ream of the United States poses during a USMNT portrait session on November 9, 2025 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n

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PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA – NOVEMBER 10: United States National Team poses for portraits in Stars uniforms on November 10, 2025 in Philadelphia, United States.<\/p>\n

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PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA – NOVEMBER 10: United States National Team poses for portraits in Stars uniforms on November 10, 2025 in Philadelphia, United States.<\/p>\n

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PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA – NOVEMBER 9: Folarin Balogun of the United States poses during a USMNT portrait session on November 9, 2025 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n

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United States National Team Stars Uniform<\/p>\n

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US Soccer Stars kit<\/p>\n

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US Soccer Stripes kit<\/p>\n

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US Soccer Stars Kit<\/p>\n

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Diego Luna, Stripes kit<\/p>\n

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Tyler Adams, Stars kit<\/p>\n

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US Soccer Stripes kit<\/p>\n

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US Soccer Stars kit<\/p>\n

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US Soccer Stripes kit<\/p>\n

The United States has consistently been ranked inside FIFA’s top 20 for the past few years, but has struggled against other top-ranked teams for some time now. To find the last time the USMNT defeated a team ranked in the top 10 you\u2019d have to go all the way back to June 2015, when it beat the Netherlands and Germany in a five-day span.<\/p>\n

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Against ninth-ranked Belgium, the USMNT showed for a moment that it could compete with one of the best teams in the world. But only for a moment.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s a team that is one of the best in the world, the problem was to keep that intensity,\u201d head coach Mauricio Pochettino said. \u201cIn the moment that we match the intensity of Belgium, we were even and in some moments we were better.\u201d<\/p>\n

The United States will continue to face tough opponents leading up to the World Cup. It will face Portugal on Tuesday before taking on Senegal and Germany just before the World Cup. If they\u2019re going to prove they truly belong among the world\u2019s best, they\u2019ll need to put together more than just a solid 40 minutes.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt’s a good reality check for us,\u201d Pochettino said. \u201cBecause now is the moment to use this type of situation to improve.\u201d<\/p>\n

Derek Oliveros is a student in the University of Georgia\u2019s Carmical Sports Media Institute.<\/p>\n

More from USMNT vs. Belgium<\/p>\n

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Belgium teaches USMNT harsh lesson in 5-2 thrashing<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ATLANTA \u2014 39 minutes into Saturday\u2019s match between the United States and Belgium, U.S. fullback Antonee Robinson whipped…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":9343,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[5413,4542,7,5421,172,5419,4554,335,4551,4570,2023,4529,4564],"class_list":{"0":"post-9342","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-belgium","8":"tag-amadou-onana","9":"tag-antonee-robinson","10":"tag-belgium","11":"tag-dodi-lukebakio","12":"tag-germany","13":"tag-jeremy-doku","14":"tag-patrick-agyemang","15":"tag-portugal","16":"tag-sebastian-berhalter","17":"tag-senegal","18":"tag-the-united-states","19":"tag-usmnt","20":"tag-weston-mckennie"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@be\/116314350871052105","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9342","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9342"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9342\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9343"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9342"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9342"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9342"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}