‘What a Clown Show’ — Shannon Sharpe, NFL World Rips USMNT After ‘Embarrassing’ World Cup Loss to Belgium

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USMNT’s World Cup campaign started with a spectacle, a 4-1 win against Paraguay, and now it has ended with an embarrassing 4-1 defeat against Belgium.

On Monday, Belgium stood tall before the USMNT team and eliminated them from the World Cup in the round of 16.

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NFL World Reacts to United States’ Loss to Belgium in FIFA World Cup

Mauricio Pochettino’s men had a weak outing, as Belgium got out to an early lead by Charles De Ketelaere. While Malik Tillman’s deflected free kick gave USMNT a brief relief, Ketelaere scored again in the first half, and after that, it was a downward spiral, eventually ending in a 4-1 defeat.

With this loss, all three host nations have been eliminated. The reactions on social media were immediate.

Barstool Sports’ Dave Portnoy posted on X, “US Soccer is not ready for primetime. I dont wanna be mean but this team is embarrassing. We’re never gonna actually be good at this sport as long as [our] D tier athletes play it. What a clown show

“I don’t want to hear that the future is bright for American soccer. That they should be proud. That was a disgusting effort. We’re far closer to the bottom than the top. Just not a soccer country,” he added in a second tweet.

Former Pro Bowl QB Robert Griffin III wrote on X, “We lost because (Belgium is a better team) we weren’t a united front as fans. We are supposed to be the United States of America not the divided states of America.”

“Enjoy the rest of the World Cup, soccer fans,” Bussin’ With The Boys’ official X handle noted. “We have this again in two months,” alluding to college football.

USMNT goalkeeper Matt Freese made a terrible error when he failed to sweep the ball, allowing Hans Vanaken to score with an empty net. The massive mistake earned some choice words.

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Former NFL offensive lineman and Super Bowl 50 champion Tyler Polumbus commented on X, “Ive never been embarrassed to be American until this moment…”

Sports Illustrated’s NFL insider Albert Breer declared on his X handle, “I don’t know soccer, but it was pretty obvious who the better team was tonight. Total beatdown. But there’s real, actual momentum for the sport in the US now–and not the sort of fake momentum we’ve seen every now and then. We’ll see what they do with it.”

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Three-time Super Bowl champion Shannon Sharpe expressed on his X handle, “Belgium is actually did us a FAVOR by dismantling us like this . Let’s us know. We’re not nearly as close as we thought. This was awful. 😔😔😔😔😔”

ESPN analyst Pat McAfee said on his X handle, “Man.. Soccer was so much fun.”

NFL legend Chad Johnson declared on X, “You gotta be [expletive] kidding me, I’m done with this [expletive], biggest game on the biggest stage & we are embarrassing ourselves not being able to do basic fundamental [expletive] 😤”

Pochettino took responsibility for the loss postgame, saying that his team “didn’t approach the game in the same way as the rest of the World Cup.”

“I congratulate Belgium. They were better than us. It wasn’t our day,” he added. “That is not to find excuses, because we didn’t show what this team normally can show. That is a reality.”

While the USMNT’s three wins over Paraguay, Australia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina were the most a U.S. men’s team has ever won at a single World Cup, the loss to Belgium serves as a tough reminder that they still have a long way to go and the path ahead is tough.

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