Good news: the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Brazil is less than a year away!
– Rodger Sherman
Today’s Lineup
The USMNT’s loss was ugly even by past standards
Spain is now on a 450-minute clean sheet streak!
Summer McIntosh is smashing world records and flirting with swimming history
🇺🇸📉 Four More Years 🇺🇸📉
🇧🇪 Belgium 4 🇧🇪🇧🇪🇧🇪🇧🇪
🇺🇸 USA 1 🇺🇸
For almost a month, this United States men’s national team looked significantly better than its past iterations. It was more skilled and more cohesive. The U.S. easily won games that bogged them down four or eight or 12 years ago. Everything was coming together at the perfect time. The team appeared to be seizing the once-in-a-generation opportunity to host a World Cup
And then they lost in the exact same round they always lose in.
After a 4-1 loss to Belgium, the USMNT has now lost in the Round of 16 at four consecutive World Cups — 2010, 2014, 2022, and now 2026. Same result, and yet this feels so much worse. After all the hype, they were outplayed and outclassed in a blowout. Worse USA teams acquitted themselves much better.
The clear lowlight was goalkeeper Matt Freese’s error that led to a Belgium goal — the Harvard Howler, I’m calling it. Freese came out of the box to clear a ball, and his well-educated brain short-circuited. He hesitated, panicked, and kicked the ground instead of the ball, leading to an easy Belgian goal.
The Americans looked sloppy and unmotivated in the biggest game they’ve ever played. The players seem shellshocked, as if this poor performance were something that happened to them, rather than something they participated in. I could show you more clips from the game, or I could show you this video of a penguin slipping and falling while schoolchildren laugh and point. They are equally embarrassing.
It’s hard to reconcile the heights of this USMNT run over the past month with the feckless, dazed effort in this loss. Once again, the USMNT is Charlie Brown and the World Cup is Lucy pulling the ball away just before he kicks it, over and over again, causing him to flail in the air. But in Matt Freese’s case, nobody pulled the ball away. This time, we whiffed all on our own.
Allowing a goal isn’t necessarily embarrassing. Sometimes a ball takes a weird bounce, or your opponent simply makes a great play. But every Belgian goal was an American humiliation. The first came on a play in which three American defenders watched a headed ball drop in the middle of them, allowing Belgium’s Nicolas Raskin to run onto the ball and dribble past them. The second came on a play in which Tim Ream had position on a cross into the box, but let Belgian striker Charles De Ketelaere physically dominate him for a point blank header into the net. The third … well, we already talked about the third.
The Americans did score, which is nice, but it came on a deflected free kick by Malik Tillman. (Not quite the same as the beauty against Bosnia and Herzegovina.) They didn’t get a shot on goal from open play until the 81st minute.
The biggest disappointment of the game was easily Christian Pulisic, who finished the World Cup with more ad campaigns (five by my count — Michelob Ultra, McDonald’s, Wells Fargo, Degree, and Hershey’s) than goal contributions (one, an assist against Paraguay.) According to ESPN, he was dispossessed 11 times in the first half before leaving with an injury. It’s really hard to get dispossessed eleven times in one half of soccer! Pulisic is allegedly Team USA’s best player, but he was anything but at the World Cup. After eight years as the team captain, it’s probably time for a new face of the program.
When we look back: What a World Cup. Team USA won three games, their most ever. They had never scored more than seven goals at a World Cup; this year they scored 11. They dominated three of the games that mattered, never trailing in any of them. They were the first team ever not from Europe or South America to score multiple goals in four games at the same World Cup. (Source: I heard it on a podcast, I hope it’s true.)
What could explain America’s vibes suddenly souring after a month of flying high? Did anything historically weird and unusual happen to the United States men’s national soccer team in between the win against Bosnia and Herzegovina and the loss against Belgium?
I guess we’ll never know.
In unrelated news: Here is the Belgian national team doing Donald Trump’s signature dance after scoring its fourth goal against the USA, and again in the locker room after the win.
Even past editions of the USMNT did not get this thoroughly outplayed. In 1994, a scrappy squad was tied with eventual World Cup champions Brazil for 70 minutes before losing 1-0. In 2002, they made the quarterfinals and came a missed goal-line handball from forcing extra time against runners-up Germany. In 2010, they lost to Ghana, which isn’t exactly the greatest outcome, but the loss came on a stunning 93rd-minute goal. In 2014, they went to extra time — against guess who? Belgium! — before conceding.
Team USA’s seven shots and two shots on goal were the fewest they’ve had in any knockout round game since 1994. They also allowed four goals, the worst of any of those performances. Again: With more hype, at home.
There’s a reason this loss feels so much worse than it did four or 12 or 20 or 32 years ago. This USA team was not an underdog. They ditched that reputation with their strong performances on the field … and also all the stuff off the field. You do not get to claim “underdog” status when the President of FIFA is bending the rules so you can field your best 11.
Maybe Team USA’s wins should buy them some benefit of the doubt. We now see how well this team can play. We know they’re not chumps. We know they didn’t eke their way to the Round of 16. But Team USA’s wins also gave them the burden of expectations. They fell short of those Monday night.
It’s brutal thinking we’ll have to wait another four years for another World Cup, and then get out of the group stages, and then get out of the Round of 32, just to get to this point again, for another chance to prove the USA has improved as a soccer nation.
It’s even more brutal remembering that whatever happens in four years won’t be like this World Cup. They had a chance to play and win at home. And for so long, it seemed like the USMNT was seizing that opportunity, only to see it slip away.
🇪🇸 Spain 1 🇪🇸
🇵🇹 Portugal 0
Spain won on a 90th-minute goal by substitute Mikel Merino, who has a flair for the dramatic. He has scored two goals in major tournaments: the stoppage time game-winner against Portugal, and an extra time game-winner in the 2024 Euro quarterfinals against Germany. Both times, he did the same “running around the corner flag” celebration used by his father, Angel Merino.
Spain is in the midst of a tournament-long clean sheet: 450 minutes played, no goals allowed. Portugal got two shots on target, which is actually the most of any Spain opponent so far (Cape Verde, Saudi Arabia, and Uruguay all managed one; Austria had zero.)
One of those shots on goal came from Cristiano Ronaldo, in what was supposedly his last World Cup game. I still think he’s gonna try to weasel his way onto the 2030 roster with Portugal hosting portions of that World Cup, at which point he’ll be the oldest World Cup player ever. But it’s not like he can get any slower!
The “America is hosting the World Cup” Moment of the Day
Going back a bit for this, but I loved this video of a Houston pedicab driver who spontaneously ended up leading a Brazilian parade.
🏊♀️ Another Summer of Summer 🏊♀️
Summer McIntosh set the world record in the 200m butterfly at Canadian trials, meaning she now holds world records in four events — the 200m fly, the 400m free, and the 200m and 400m individual medleys — which puts her on an extremely short list of swimmers who have held four world records simultaneously. If she were to break Katie Ledecky’s record in the 800m freestyle (and her personal best is less than a second away) she’d be the first woman since Australia’s Shane Gould in the 1970s to hold five records at once.
⚾️ Are Eury-eally gonna take him out? ⚾️
The Marlins upset baseball fans by pulling Eury Pérez after seven perfect innings against the A’s. On the one hand, good for them for protecting Pérez, who has never thrown more than seven innings in a game, was on the injured list last month, and had Tommy John surgery in 2024. On the other, the Marlins were quickly punished for pulling a perfect pitcher by nearly blowing an 8-0 lead. Pérez’s replacement, Lake Bachar, allowed five runs without recording a single out, but the Marlins held on for a 9-8 win.
🧗♀️ The Hunt vs. The Climb 🧗♀️
American Emma Hunt set the women’s speed climbing world record at a World Climbing Series event in Poland, sneaking under the six-second barrier with a 5.99-second climb. (Of course, as happens literally every time I write about a speed climbing record, she lost her semifinal and did not end up winning the bracket-style event.) Hunt is the first American woman to hold the world record, which had been broken 11 times in a row by Poland’s Aleksandra Mirosław over the last five years.
(Shoutout to the Climbing Commenters! I know you guys like the lead and boulder events better but come on! Still climbing!)
⛸️ Let’s Skate Together ⛸️
The IOC officially announced the 2030 Olympic program, and it’s got SYNCHRONIZED FIGURE SKATING!!!! Nine people on the ice at the same time! Here’s a clip of Team USA’s Beyoncé medley at the recent World Championships (it was only an exhibition, since the nine-person format is new.)
Norwegians will be devastated to learn that the Nordic Combined, which has been a part of the Winter Games since their inception in 1924, has been cut. It was the last sport at the Winter Olympics in which only men competed. There was talk of adding a women’s event, but considering it was the most obscure and least popular sport at the Games, axing it was easier. Whatever, Norway has Erling Haaland now, it doesn’t need more ways to dominate the Winter Olympics too!
💥🧨 BOUM! 🧨💥
The USA won their eighth consecutive FIBA U-17 World Cup, which is mainly just an opportunity for me to talk about the MVP performance from Joaquim Boumtje-Boumtje, the son of former Georgetown and Portland Trail Blazers center Ruben Boumtje-Boumtje. Boumtje-Boumtje averaged 19 points and 10 rebounds on 53 percent three-point shooting. He’s headed to Duke this year, but won’t be eligible for the NBA Draft until 2028 due to his age. He’s gaining draft hype as a potential #1 pick. It’s the most excited I’ve been about a double-named son of a former NBA player since Bol Bol.
On Deck is written by Bradley Locker
🌍⚽🏆 World Cup! 🏆⚽🌍
🇦🇷 Argentina 🇦🇷 vs. 🇪🇬 Egypt 🇪🇬
Tuesday, 12 p.m. ET in Atlanta
We’ll find out just how much a pair of lengthy, dramatic Round of 16 matches took out of these sides. Lionel Messi and Argentina want to put their extra time battle with Cape Verde behind them, while Mo Salah and Egypt are hoping for a more comfortable result after their penalty shootout victory over Australia. This has already been the greatest tournament in Egyptian history. Can they knock off the defending champs? Messi has scored a goal in EIGHT consecutive World Cup games, which feels like a fake stat.
🇨🇭 Switzerland 🇨🇭 vs. 🇨🇴 Colombia 🇨🇴
Tuesday, 4 p.m. ET in Vancouver
Colombia’s defense has been on a heater, with keeper Camilo Vargas and the rest of the Colombian line not allowing a goal in three straight games. Meanwhile, Switzerland’s offense has exploded with multiple goals in their last three games. We’ve got a bit of a travel mismatch here, too: Switzerland has now played three games at Vancouver’s BC Place, while Colombia has gone from Mexico to Miami to Kansas City … and now all the way to Vancouver.
🇫🇷 France 🇫🇷 vs. 🇲🇦 Morocco 🇲🇦
Thursday, 4 p.m. ET in Foxborough
The first quarterfinal! These countries have political as well as on-field history, with France beating Morocco 2-0 in the 2022 World Cup semifinals. Six players on Morocco were born in France, including 18-year-old star Ayyoub Bouaddi, who captained French youth national teams before a high-profile switch. Morocco’s leading goal scorer, Ismael Saibari, left their last game with an injury, but they still scored three without him.
🍓🍓🍓 Wimbledon 🍓🍓🍓
Quarterfinals Tuesday and Wednesday, women’s semifinals Thursday (ESPN)
Coco Gauff is through to her first semifinal ever! After defeating world #1 Aryna Sabalenka in straight sets, Naomi Osaka looks to continue a resurgent run vs. Karolína Muchová. If Jannik Sinner and Novak Djokovic win their quarterfinals, they’ll play in an absolutely massive semifinal.
Thank you for reading and for your support!
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