The United States men’s national team has been eliminated from this year’s World Cup. Gregg Berhalter’s squad is out after suffering a 3-1 loss to the Netherlands in the Round of 16 on Saturday.
USMNT has played great in the group stage of the tournament, being one of the rare teams that haven’t suffered a loss. But a stout defense that greatly contributed to this was never to be found against the Netherlands. Instead, Tyler Adams and co. looked lost on the field at moments and allowed goals from uncharacteristic mistakes.
The Netherlands dominated the first half, with Memphis Depay and Daley Blind scoring in 10’ and 45’+1’, respectively to give their team a 2-0 lead on the break. Haji Wright gave Americans some home in 76,’ but Denzel Dumfries would go on to score five minutes later and put the game out of reach.
“In the past three games, I’d say we defended the moments really, really well,” said Adams after the game. “And today the three goals come from moments where we’re probably sleeping a little bit.”
USMNT will probably feel that they could have done more, and rightfully so. However, there were a lot of positives. Young core showed it could handle the pressure on the biggest stage and that the future is bright for American soccer.
