Belgium's players were technically sharper while the US were constantly undermined by their own mistakes, Greif observed. "What will sting the US is that it may never have a better opportunity for its breakthrough." The US had a favourable draw, he noted, that kept it in the Pacific time zone for its first six matches.

The players will take some criticism. Some "terrible individual performances" from the big players happened at "the worst possible moment", Herculez Gomez, a former USA player, said on ESPN, external. "It was one error after another that snowballed and sent the US Men's National Team into a pysche that they could never overcome."

How much the team's exit will impact the longer-term enthusiasm of the nation for soccer is also being analysed.

"For all the hope, for all the dreams and for all the hype that the USMNT had built in the last month and in the years leading up to the World Cup, it all feels like it was for naught," wrote Ben Steiner in Sports Illustrated, external. "When the team finally came up against a top-10-ranked side, it floundered."

Pochettino gave the team a confidence that seemed perfect, Steiner added. "Yet, the parting message of this World Cup for the USMNT, instead of a glorious rendition of Country Roads with the Seattle faithful, is the controversy surrounding Balogun and an underwhelming performance against what many thought was a beatable Belgian team."

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