Not disappointment. Not anger. But shock.
That’s what the U.S. men’s national team felt after its World Cup loss to Belgium on July 6, according to captain Tim Ream.
“It’s disbelief,” Ream told ESPN’s “The Pat McAfee Show” Thursday of the team’s reaction in the locker room after the game. “It’s trying to put together and understand what had just gone on because it was polar opposite of the way we had played up to that point.”
Despite riding optimism into the match after their 2-1 victory over Bosnia and Herzegovina in the previous round, the USMNT made several miscues in their 4-1 loss to Belgium.
“I think the feeling in the room was shock and trying to understand where and why we had the game that we did,” he added.
Though the entire squad has gotten significant criticism for its letdown performance, Christian Pulisic has been especially scrutinized.
The AC Milan attacker didn’t score a single goal in the tournament and left the Round of 16 match early with a right ankle injury, prompting criticism from notable figures like former USWNT star Carli Lloyd.
But according to Ream, it wasn’t just Pulisic who had a poor night. It was everyone.
“You mentioned Christian there, but I don’t think anybody had their best game by any stretch,” Ream said. “It just seemed like everything that could go wrong was going to go wrong that night, which is a shame because we put so much work in to get to that point.”
While the USMNT fell short after a dominant start to the tournament, Ream said their run still had a positive impact on the growth of soccer in the United States.
“One of the secondary conversations that we were having as a group was how can we inspire and get more people to love this game?” Ream said. “How can we get them to fall in love with the game, be passionate about the game, get behind the team, get behind the sport even more? And what is it going to take from us as players to do that?”
“And that was right. We need to put on performances and win games. And throughout the tournament we felt it grow and grow and grow and grow. And from that standpoint, I think we’re proud of the performances and of the games that we did win.”
