Pochettino takes blame after USMNT crash out of World Cup to Belgium

Mauricio Pochettino said the USMNT did not connect with the match, and the collapse carried immediate consequences: a 4-1 defeat to Belgium in Seattle on July 6, 2026 ended the Americans’ World Cup run in the round of 16. The result matched the stage where the United States exited four years earlier against the Netherlands in Qatar, turning a promising home tournament into another abrupt knockout-stage failure.

The loss landed hard because the group stage had built a case for something bigger. The USMNT opened with a 4-1 win over Paraguay in Los Angeles in front of 70,492 fans, then beat Australia 2-0 in Seattle to secure a place in the knockout round. On July 1, the Americans defeated Bosnia and Herzegovina 2-0 in the round of 32, a result that was only the second knockout-stage victory in program history and sent the USMNT into the round of 16 for the fourth straight World Cup.

That progression made the Belgium match harder to explain. Pochettino took responsibility after the defeat and said the staff now has to review the game to identify what must improve. The issue was not just the scoreline. It raised questions about whether the team’s structure, intensity and decision-making held up once the margin for error disappeared. The opening rounds suggested a side that could control games and produce in front of a home crowd; the knockout loss suggested those habits did not survive against a higher-caliber opponent.

The personnel debate is likely to follow the result. Christian Pulisic was among the names drawn into scrutiny after the loss, while the broader attack was unable to recover once Belgium seized control. That leaves Pochettino, appointed by U.S. Soccer in September 2024 to steer the program toward the home World Cup, with a clear mandate: decide whether the failure was tactical, psychological or rooted in the roster’s limits, then fix it before the next competitive cycle begins. The team showed it could advance through the group stage, but Belgium exposed how far it still has to go once the knockout rounds demand precision.