After dramatically reaching the knockout round by edging Iran, 1-0, in their final group stage match, the US Men’s National Team’s World Cup dream was dashed Saturday following a 3-1 defeat to the Netherlands at Khalifa International Stadium.
While there were tears in the immediate aftermath, there’s also a newfound sense of optimism this young nucleus can make a major step forward in four years when the World Cup is on home soil.
Ahead of heading to Qatar, only one USMNT player on the World Cup roster had previous experience playing on the grand stage — Inter Miami defender DeAndre Yedlin.
Now, the 25 others who boarded the plane have that, with many likely part of the core that will come into their prime in four years.
“The biggest thing is, the group learned what it feels like to lose in a World Cup. And that goes a long way,” Yedlin told reporters after the Netherlands match. “Now you’re going into the next one and pretty much everybody in that group probably will have played in a World Cup. So now it's a whole different story. Now they know that feeling of what it's like to lose after putting so much into it. The feeling of defeat from the past can only fuel success in the future.”
Ask the players and they’ll say the goal in Qatar was to win the World Cup. While those are lofty, and somewhat unrealistic expectations, USMNT coach Gregg Berhalter said they wanted to change the perception of US Soccer across the globe.
"We set out with a goal to show the rest of the world how we can play soccer,” he said following the defeat to the Netherlands. “I think we partially achieved that, even though we fell short of our goals.”
But, as proved at the Qatar World Cup, there’s work to do to take that next step forward.
First, though, the positives. The midfield trio of Tyler Adams, who proved with his actions on the field and his maturity off of it — especially in a contentious press conference ahead of the Iran match deserving of the captain’s armband now and for the foreseeable future — Weston McKennie and Yunus Musah, were the USMNT’s biggest strength in Qatar.
Adams, who plays for Leeds United in the English Premier League, is just 23, McKennie, who competes for Juventus in Italy’s Serie A is 24 and Musah, who plies his trade for Valencia in Spain’s La Liga, is 20.
Then there’s Tim Weah, the 22-year-old winger who competes for Lille in France’s Ligue 1. He’s scored his first World Cup goal, the opener in the 1-1 draw against Wales, and was a threat on the ball throughout.
Christian Pulisic is the face of the team, his winning goal against Iran the biggest moment for the US in this World Cup. The Chelsea winger is 24.
And while Gio Reyna’s playing time was a point of debate among pundits and on social media alike, the Borussia Dortmund winger is among the most skilled players for the US in this World Cup. And likely, at 20 years old, for years to come.
“Americans are always people that are known as people that don't give up. And we know the US is the land of opportunity,” McKennie said. “I think this was a big opportunity for a lot of us in this tournament, and I think we did really well with it. Obviously, we went out and it sucks. But at the same time, a lot of us will use this as a chip on our shoulder over the next four years to try and prove what we can do.”
Those young players learned a valuable lesson in the loss against the Netherlands about finishing opportunities at the World Cup. Pulisic had an open chance in the opening moments, only for his shot to be kicked away by Dutch goalkeeper Andries Noppert.
"It hurts, man. It hurts," Pulisic said. "I thought I was way offside when it happened, but I still hit it, and he made a good save. It's going to hurt for a while.”
A few minutes later, Memphis Depay scored on the Netherlands’ first shot of the match.
Weah nearly equalized in the 43rd minute, but a diving Noppert parried away the attempt.
And then, at the stroke of halftime, Daley Blind provided the gut-punch and gave the Dutch a 2-0 advantage.
The USMNT continued to fight and push the envelope and Haji Wright’s goal in the 76th minute provided hope of a late comeback. But that was dashed five minutes later when Denzel Dumfries, who assisted on the two first-half goals, netted the clincher as Netherlands advanced to take on Argentina in the quarterfinals.
"Their first attack was basically a goal and how long did it take them to generate an attack? We were clearly on top, clearly dominant," Berhalter said. "We had a good moment, a goal-scoring opportunity before that we didn't score. It's just moments that a player's off a little bit here or there and it ends up in the back of the net. And when you play at this level, when you play this high quality, that's what happens.”
The USMNT lacked that deadly and consistent striker — they’re not the only team in the world to have that problem. And the team lacked quality depth. Players like Pulisic, Weah, McKennie and fullbacks Antonee Robinson and Sergino Dest especially put in a lot of miles in Qatar. And that showed against the Dutch.
And then there’s the matter of who will be the coach going ahead? Berhalter, who was tasked with reshaping the USMNT from the devastation of failing to qualify for the 2018 World Cup to trying to make the return with a young group, will soon be out of contract.
Will Berhalter, who had his detractors, but was largely successful during his four years at the helm, return? It’s been rumored he might look to return to club coaching, perhaps in Europe. And if he is out, who replaces him? Jesse Marsch, the Leeds United manager, could be top of that list of candidates.
“Regarding me personally, you know, for the last month, month and a half, I've just been only focused on the World Cup, only focused on achieving things with this group,” Berhalter said of his future. “The next couple weeks, I'll clear my head, I'll sit down and think about what's next.”
The Round of 16 departure is disappointing, but there’s far more positives than negatives — and with that raised expectations — ahead of the 2026 World Cup.
