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.
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