USMNT Stock Up, Stock Down: The United States World Cup run comes to an end

By Billy McGee - @iambillymcgee

Photo courtesy of Cisco's Art/TopBin90

The United States Men’s National Team suffered a devastating 4-1 defeat at the hands of Belgium in the Round of 16, ending their World Cup run. The disappointing result sours what otherwise could’ve been a successful World Cup run for the U.S. that saw them finish top of their group and win a knockout stage game.

Here’s our stock up, stock down for the USMNT’s Round of 16 loss to Belgium:

Stock Down

“The Guys” - Christian Pulisic and Weston McKennie are supposed to be the major players in this team that help steer games in the United States’ direction, but against Belgium they both played poorly. Pulisic played just 59 minutes before coming off with an injury. In his 59 minutes, he failed to take a single shot, create a single chance, went 2/6 on successful dribbles, and lost 75% of his duels. McKennie also failed to register a single shot or chance created, had zero accurate crosses or accurate long balls, and went 1/7 on duels. The two should be giving the USMNT a solid floor, but instead they were a big part of the reason that Belgium was able to streamroll through the United States. They will need to step up and be veteran leaders in the coming windows, as they will be among the elder statesmen of the squad if they are still there at the next World Cup when they are both 31-years-old.

Tim Ream - In what is almost certainly his last World Cup game, the 38-year-old defender had his worst game of the tournament, being credited with having committed an error leading to a goal and playing a part in multiple goals being scored against the United States. While only having three defensive contributions, Ream also didn’t impact the distribution in ways typical of him, going just 3/4 on accurate long balls. The USMNT will be looking for Ream replacements in the coming windows before the next World Cup in 2030.

Matt Freese - After getting off to a good start by making his most impressive save of the tournament in the first minute of the game, Freese had little else to be excited by against Belgium. The worst of his performance was a major error that he committed, coming out of the box and failing to clear the ball, allowing Belgium to take a shot on the goal with just one defender in the way, allowing them to take a 3-1 lead in the second half. He finished the game with -0.49 goals prevented, allowing four of Belgium’s seven shots on target to go into the net. Freese didn’t do enough outside of this game in the World Cup to justify keeping him as the solidified first-choice keeper moving forward. With a plethora of keepers that appear around the same quality as Freese, we could see many different players get the chance in the many national team camps upcoming.

Sergiño Dest - Dest played a disappointing first half for the U.S. before being taken off at halftime in favor of Giovanni Reyna. In his one half of football, he had 23 touches and did very little with his touches. Like Pulisic and McKennie, he failed to register a single shot or chance created. Of his 11 accurate passes, just two were into the final third, and defensively he also didn’t contribute much of anything, leading to him being taken off at halftime while trailing 2-1. Being subbed off at half while trailing in the biggest game of the tournament doesn’t bode well for the wing back.

Malik Tillman - Tillman gave the USMNT their only goal of the game on a free kick goal, his second consecutive game doing so. Much like the previous game, the 24-year-old had a lackluster performance outside of the free kick. He went 1/3 on successful dribbles, 28/35 on accurate passes, with just two of those passes being into the final third, no accurate long balls, was dispossessed twice, and dribbled past twice. With his only shot and chance created in the match being from the set piece, his performance was similar to that of a ChrisMD YouTube video. He could have a bright future for the U.S., but he needs to improve in open play and become more consistent, and with the ability that he has, should be held to a higher standard than others in the squad.