The USMNT was favoured to beat a powerful European team in the World Cup’s round of 16 for the first time ever.
But with all the momentum in the world, with more talent than ever before, it looked just like the 2022 team that lost to the Netherlands.
It looked just like the 2014 team that lost to Belgium, or the 2010 team that lost to Ghana. It looked far worse than the 2002 team that beat Mexico at this very same stage, then gave the Germans all they could handle in a quarterfinal.
It looked like American men’s soccer’s progress had, over the past month, been vastly overstated.
📝 @HenryBushnell
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