The U.S. Men’s National Team lost 4-1 in the World Cup round of 16 to Belgium in Seattle on Monday night, ending what was widely seen as the team’s best chance to reach the World Cup quarterfinals for the first time since 2002.

That sound you hear is the huge sigh of relief from a whole lot of people associated with soccer outside the U.S. The controversy over USMNT star Folarin Balogun’s red-card suspension—and whether U.S. President Donald Trump, always eager to insert himself into the country’s biggest sports stories, influenced its reversal—threatened to become the defining story of this tournament’s knockout stages, turning what had so far been a massive success into something much more divisive and controversial. Now it’ll likely be nothing more than a footnote for the biggest sporting event in history.

While there were obvious commercial advantages to the U.S. team advancing beyond the round of 16, Monday’s game likely ties up a highly volatile loose end for many associated with the tournament and the sport. Now they can try to focus all the attention back on Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappé and “Gen Z Cringe King” Erling Haaland. 

MORE: The Highest-Paid Players at the 2026 World Cup

Sportico‘s staff reacts to the U.S. loss and thinks ahead to what this means for soccer in the United States.

Justin Birnbaum: The USMNT may have exited the World Cup earlier than U.S. Soccer would have liked, but the federation is in a position to grow the game over the long term. Increased sponsorship and donations helped it generate revenues of $268 million in fiscal year 2025, nearly quadruple the mark from 15 years ago. The more financial resources U.S. Soccer has at its disposal, the more it can invest in grassroots programs and national team development.

However, it’s hard to imagine any short-term uptick in interest being anything but incremental, and that’s a problem for MLS. The league has long held up this tournament as a catalyst for a new wave of soccer popularity in the U.S., and a deep run from the USMNT was certainly part of those expectations. Now, MLS needs its foreign-born stars that are still alive in the tournament—looking at you, Messi—to shine if it’s going to permanently win over new fans.

Jacob Feldman: An embarrassing 48 hours will totally change how this World Cup will be remembered. For nearly a month, the U.S. had won over the soccer world. Off the pitch, our stadiums and our cities seemingly dazzled visitors (even if many of them were simply posting for engagement). And on the pitch, the USMNT looked like one of the most organized sides in the entire tournament.

Then came the controversy around Folarin Balogun’s re-instatement, followed by a disastrous performance in Seattle. Soccer netizens (do we have to call it football now?) once again have cause to denigrate us. America might not have another chance to face the world’s best for four years. It might never have as good a chance again. 

Another thought: Can we keep Mauricio Pochettino? Signing a manager who had coached some of the biggest clubs in the world at one of the highest price tags in international soccer played a big role in boosting the U.S.’s credibility in the sport. Now, questions swirl about the dedication to keep him without a home World Cup on the horizon—and his potential interest in returning to Europe. Restarting with a new boss would set this team back.

Sara Germano: A 4-1 defeat on home soil is a humiliating result for U.S. Soccer. Progressing to the World Cup quarterfinals was never a given for the USMNT, but were the men to have lost to Belgium with a stronger defensive effort and a fighting attitude, it would have at least been admirable. There were ways to exit this home World Cup with honor— look at Cape Verde!—but the fumbling showing by Pochettino’s men in Seattle on Monday was not it.

Instead, the final score is a nightmare for American soccer, which is perennially on the come-up but is still yet to arrive. It is also a nightmare for MLS, which still hopes to leverage the growing soccer fandom in this country into support for the domestic league. This World Cup is not over, and enthusiasm for the sport may still blossom, but the loss to Belgium only affirms an (otherwise reductive) stereotype: American men’s soccer is second-rate. 

All is not lost, however: the Women’s World Cup, hosted next year in Brazil, will be doubly advantageous to U.S. fans due to the convenient time zone for broadcasts and the chance for the USWNT to win its fifth title, carrying this summer’s football fever forward.

Eben Novy-Williams: Quick, name a U.S. national team, in any sport, that is ranked outside the global top 15 but consistently draws support from millions of Americans. Yeah, I couldn’t either.

This World Cup was obviously a massive leap forward for U.S. Soccer—more Americans watched these two knockout contests than any soccer games in American history, and the USMNT currently occupies a larger space in U.S culture than ever before—but the tournament also showed a clear limitation. Simply put, for any of this growth for U.S. Soccer to stick, the team has to get better. One downside to adding a bunch of casual fans is that the pressure to perform increases dramatically.

For the much broader business cohort of ‘Soccer in America,’ a group we’ve written about a lot at Sportico, the outlook feels more immediately tangible, and that will only strengthen as the World Cup grows toward its mid-July crescendo with the final at New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium, renamed New York New Jersey Stadium for the tournament. Then the hard(er) work begins. Will more kids start kicking a ball? Can MLS lure new fans out to club games? Will big European leagues finally succeed in playing consequential matches here? And will streaming companies dedicate more money for rights? People have spent literally a decide preparing to answer those questions, and I’m ready to see it in action.