The U.S. men’s national team’s dreadful performance Monday night is catching plenty of strays.
This time, it was from two Canadian World Cup broadcasters on TSN.
After the USMNT was demolished 4-1 by Belgium in the World Cup round of 16, TSN broadcasters Steven Caldwell and Kevin Kilbane eviscerated the team’s dud and said it wasn’t a surprising result.
“When it was a big stage, when they were playing against the proper team, they completely failed,” Caldwell said on the TSN broadcast after the game.
Kilbane followed: “This team is so overhyped and this is the thing that we said coming into the tournament. We were questioning them. The teams that they beat in this tournament they should’ve beat and then they lost to Turkey and have been demolished by Belgium here today. Outclassed in every department. They’ve been schooled by a top-class side.”
With wins over Bosnia and Herzegovina, Paraguay and Australia between the Group Stage and the first round, expectations were high for the USMNT entering its tilt against Belgium.
Same as there was for World Cup co-host Canada, which reached the same round only to be dismissed 3-0 by Morocco on Saturday.
But between porous defense and flat play, the USMNT was dominated from the get-go on Monday.
Courtesy of a Charles De Ketelaere goal, Belgium took a 1-0 lead just nine minutes in before Malik Tillman evened things up 22 minutes later on a deflected free kick.
The USMNT’s momentum was short-lived, however, as De Ketelaere quickly restored Belgium’s lead and it never looked back, pulling away for the 4-1 win.
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“I felt like Belgium were all over them,” another TSN announcer said. “They completely outclassed them. Complete performance.”
Despite the hype surrounding this year’s USMNT, the end result, a Round of 16 loss, wasn’t any different than years past.
In the 2022 Qatar World Cup, the team lost to the Netherlands in the same round.
Until the USMNT advances further, you can probably bet on Caldwell and Kilbane continuing to rip the team.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
