The USMNT's 2026 World Cup campaign is over, ended by a 4-1 defeat to Belgium in Seattle on July 7 that exposed the gap between this team's ceiling and the level required to go deep in a major tournament. For four matches, the Americans showed enough to generate genuine belief, grinding past Bosnia and Herzegovina in the Round of 32 and drawing enormous crowds across Los Angeles and Seattle. Against Belgium, none of that translated. Mauricio Pochettino himself admitted Belgium were simply better, and the manner of the loss has forced a reckoning that goes well beyond one bad night.

The most pressing question now is who coaches this team next. Pochettino's contract expires this summer, and while U.S. Soccer has signalled it will hold further discussions after a period of reflection, the program is effectively without a confirmed head coach. That uncertainty shapes everything heading into the 2030 cycle. Christian Pulisic, who hobbled off during the Belgium defeat, faces a shift in how he is perceived, moving from golden boy to a player who must now answer harder questions about his legacy. Folarin Balogun, whose red card against Bosnia was controversially overturned following White House intervention, has since apologised to fans, while FIFA president Gianni Infantino faces calls from 72 European lawmakers for a formal investigation into that decision.

On a more forward-looking note, Steve Cherundolo has been appointed to lead the U-23s ahead of the 2028 Olympics, offering one concrete sign that U.S. Soccer is already planning beyond the pain of this exit.