USMNT Only

Just a reminder that USMNT striker Folarin Balogun received a red card after a VAR check on this challenge. Earlier in the tournament, Lionel Messi didn’t get a yellow card or even a VAR check for a similar challenge.

Alexi Lalas BLASTED Mauricio Pochettino following the USMNT’s World Cup defeat to Belgium in the Round of 16 — saying it was ‘an abject failure’ 😨 “You had one job, and you blew it.” “It was an abject failure.” “It’s one thing to go out to Belgium, it’s another thing to go out in the way they went out, especially with the way that they looked through the tournament. I don’t think the confidence and excitement was misplaced for this team, but they picked the worst possible day to play their worst possible game. It’s obviously on Mauricio Pochettino and these players.” “I mean, it’s not that I want him to leave. I just think that this cycle has run its course. When it comes to Mauricio Pochettino, you had one job. And it was the game against Belgium. You win that game, then you’re in some rarefied air.” “So I think that [U.S. Soccer] moves on. I believe he’s had a good time, but you had one job, and you blew it. And, you know, you live and die by that. Every coach understands that, every manager understands that, and certainly Mauricio Pochettino does.”

This is wild.

ESPN’s Craig Burley has come to the defense of USMNT forward Christian Pulisic and blasts some of the pundits and critics who are making him out to be the scapegoat following the United States' World Cup Round of 16 defeat to Belgium 🎙️🇺🇸 “It seems to me it's almost a personal attack on an individual rather than an analysis of the football that's gone before.” “It’s people from FOX. It's the same people that when Flo Balogun was told he could play, they were on that network, and they embarrassed the hell out of themselves for about half an hour. It’s embarrassing.” “They all danced around the fact that it was wrong, and said, this is the greatest decision in the history of U.S. sports, Flo Balogun's going to play. That's how embarrassing these people are. They have no shame.” “You're criticizing a player for not carrying a team, no further than you yourself never carried a team.” “Look, do I think he's perfect? No. But I'll tell you one thing about Christian Pulisic, and going back to [Landon] Donovan and one or two others, at least he's had the stomach to go to Europe over a long, long period of time and forge out a pretty good career for himself at Dortmund, at Chelsea, at Milan.” “And listen, they can analyze games all they want. I don't care. That's their job. But here, I think this is personal. It's a real personal attack on this young man.”

Jermaine Jones goes off on the state of US Soccer in a series of tweets 😮

This is incredible. Combined viewing in the U.S. on FOX & Telemundo: USMNT 🇺🇸 vs. 🇧🇪 Belgium: 50.1M viewers Mexico 🇲🇽 vs. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 England: 46.7M viewers These are the most watched non-NFL sporting events in the United States since the 1994 Winter Olympics 😳 (h/t @mulvihill79)

USWNT legend Carli Lloyd isn't backing down from her criticism of USMNT star Christian Pulisic after reports he fractured his leg in the World Cup R16 loss to Belgium, saying he "skipped the Gold Cup," "ended up resting the whole year" and she doesn't "owe anyone an apology." 😯

“Failing to qualify for 2018 World Cup really hurt Christian Pulisic. That has changed the trajectory of him with the USMNT. You will NEVER hear me say he doesn’t care playing for 🇺🇸. The problem is, he doesn’t want to be THAT guy.” — @TaylorTwellman

Landon Donovan goes OFF on Christian Pulisic 😮 “People are fed up with the way things are handled around him. And it's not necessarily him, but it's his agents, his family, his hangers-on, the people who are influencing. People are fed up with it.” “They treat people poorly. They do things poorly. It's always a 'no' whenever you wanna ask, 'Can we do an interview?' It's always a, 'No, you can't get near him.' He doesn't say 'hi' to the commentators who do all the games all the time when they walk by.”

Alex Morgan on the USMNT becoming competitive against the highest level of competition at the World Cup: “It’s all about the youth system. The youth system is a business. It’s really fractured right now.”

Christian Pulisic on Instagram following the USMNT's 4-1 defeat to Belgium in the World Cup Round of 16 🇺🇸🎙️ "Tough to find the words. I want to start by saying thank you to everyone who believed. The support carried us all the way through. It simply wasn’t good enough from us in the end and I wanted to deliver so much more.. I still feel blessed to be a part of this team. The memories this summer will last a lifetime. It’s just the start for us and for this sport in America. 🇺🇸"

USMNT legend Landon Donovan: "You would've had to fucking drag me off the field. And I would've punched the doctor in the face and said, 'You're not taking me off the field."

USMNT legend Landon Donovan on the state of youth soccer in the U.S. 🇺🇸🎙️ “Only 2% of kids playing organized soccer in America came from households that made less than $50,000.” “If you don’t make $50,000, your kid cannot play organized soccer.”

Class from Folarin Balogun ❤️🙏

*continually

Folarin Balogun on Instagram ❤️🎙️ “Soccer in America will only become bigger. The belief, talent and passion is contrails growing and I know the best days are in front of us. The future belongs to those who never stop believing.” “We will be back. Why not us?” #USMNT

Carli Lloyd takes a shot at Christian Pulisic following his 'rest' comments 😯

“The facts are the facts and the reality is the reality.” Landon Donovan on Christian Pulisic’s performance for the USMNT at the 2026 World Cup.

Former USMNT head coach Gregg Berhalter following the 4-1 loss to Belgium in the Round of 16: “To me, Belgium are not that much better. When you look at Transfermarkt value.” “It’s not a huge gap.” “I just think we didn’t have a great day.” “We were off it. When you look at how many passes we missed, it’s not normal for us.”