Embarrassing Exit: USA knocked out of World Cup by Belgium

U.S. Soccer Federation has four years to do whatever it takes to field a team that can handle the hype. That was probably the most embarrassing loss in the knockout round, let's say in the history of the World Cup. I'm sure teams have lost by more goals, but not with all of the world hate and rage watching. We went into this game with the world looking at us like some overblown, overhyped cheaters, and then we came out looking like we got our ass beat for trying to change the rules of the game. It's almost like it would have been better if Battlegun didn't play, because that would have gave us some sort of out or an excuse. That team on the pitch looked inferior to Belgium, and they also looked like they heard the noise, they felt the pressure, they played tense. So when I say U.S. Soccer Federation has to field a team that can handle the hype, I'm talking about the hype and the pressure of actually being a country with some true soccer culture. Hakimi of Morocco, he's facing sexual allegations back in the country, but Morocco is in the round of eight. Kylian Mbappe is going head to head on Twitter with some racist Paraguayan senator, and he's got seven goals in a tournament, and he's in the race for the golden boot. We don't have a superstar on that level like those countries. I get it, but I refuse to believe that with all the money that we have here in the U.S., all of the resources that we have here in the U.S., and how much bigger our country is geographically, that we cannot field a team that can go toe-to-toe with a good team or a good country. Cape Verde went toe-to-toe with Messi and the defending champs, and they went home as heroes with a bunch of players that they recruited off of LinkedIn. We blew the brakes off of Paraguay in the first match, and then they barely lost to France, and their knockout game. It's just not making sense. Last night did not make sense. How do we still need miracle goals against top European competition? This exit hurt more than it gave hope because we as fans just saw that our hope can only go so far on the world stage. So look, you may have lost some casuals, but you definitely gained some new fans who are going to pay a lot more attention and apply a lot more pressure on the federation and this team to be ready for the hype again in another four years.