The United States were routed 5-2 by Belgium on Saturday in a humbling defeat for Mauricio Pochettino’s team as they prepare to co-host this summer’s World Cup.
The thrashing comes as a wakeup call just 75 days before the tournament for the Americans, who after a good run of recent results were found severely lacking once again when facing top European opposition.
“I see this as a good check reality for us, because now is the moment to feel this type of situation, to improve,” said Pochettino.
“We need to improve, of course,” he said.
The US took an early lead against the world’s ninth-ranked team, with Weston McKennie slotting in to the delight of a packed 67,000 Atlanta crowd.
But the Americans, knowing that their chances of making a deep run in the World Cup will likely depend on beating elite European opposition, saw any hopes of a statement victory dashed.
Having conceded, the Belgians swiftly came to life, with a deluge of goals from Zeno Debast, Amadou Onana, and Charles De Ketelaere, and a brace from substitute Dodi Lukebakio.
Patrick Agyemang grabbed a late consolation for the US, who play Portugal in another high-profile friendly Tuesday before Pochettino announces his final squad in May.
Christian Pulisic, the AC Milan forward who has become a poster boy for Team USA, told AFP that the team needs “to take this on the chin.”
“It was a tough loss. It’s a very good team, but in a lot of ways, there’s things that we can do better,” he said.
“I have to improve. The team has to improve.”
– Red Devils –
Long seen as minnows at the international level of soccer, the US hired former Tottenham and Paris Saint Germain coach Pochettino to oversee an increasingly star-studded roster including Pulisic and Juventus midfielder McKennie.
The US will play all of its games at the World Cup on home soil, further raising expectations.
But fans shelling out to support the home team will expect to see far more than they witnessed on Saturday.
In a fairly even opening half hour, Belgium winger Jeremy Doku threatened down the left flank, but the US enjoyed the better of the chances.
After seeing one effort from a corner saved by Senne Lammens — who is aiming to supplant the injured Thibaut Courtois in Belgium’s goal — McKennie made no mistake from another corner.
Delivered by Antonee Robinson, it found him near the back post, where he tucked the ball into the net.
The goal seemed to spark Belgium into life. A wonderful strike from outside the box by Debast just before half-time gave the defender his first international goal.
– ‘Pain is good’ –
After halftime, the floodgates opened. Dangerous Doku ran down the wing and passed into the box, with the ball scrambled to Onana, who side-footed it home.
Six minutes later, US keeper Matt Turner — hoping to win his place back from Matt Freese — thought he had made a tremendous double save, but the referee spotted the ball had brushed captain Tim Ream’s arm. De Ketelaere slotted in the penalty.
“For me, it wasn’t a penalty,” said Pochettino, who queried why a VAR check failed to convince the official to overturn his on-field decision.
The afternoon went from bad to worse, as Belgium made a raft of substitutes on the hour mark, and one of those — Lukebakio — curled in a sumptuous shot under little pressure.
Lukebakio added Belgium’s fifth before Ricardo Pepi took advantage of some sloppy late defending to set up Agyemang.
By that time thousands of US fans had left the domed arena, and full time was greeted with a smattering of subdued boos and whistles.
Having won his previous three games, including impressive defeats of Paraguay and Uruguay, Pochettino said the setback could help shape “the approach and the way that we are going to arrive to the World Cup.”
“We were so happy against Uruguay, or against Paraguay,” he said. “But to feel sometimes the pain is good.”