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USA forward Christian Pulisic described the co-hosts' FIFA World Cup 2026 exit after a 4-1 Round of 16 defeat to Belgium as "disappointing," as per the FIFA website.
Pulisic said the team was proud of its performance in the FIFA World Cup 2026 but was disappointed with the way the campaign ended. He acknowledged Belgium's clinical performance and said the USA fell short in key moments of the match. "Up until today, we are very proud and I thought we did a lot of good things, but for sure [it was] just a disappointing way to end. We played against a very good team [that was] very clinical in both ends of the pitch, and we weren't exactly so... that's where the game is won in the boxes, so it was not quite enough from us today," Christian Pulisic told FIFA. Pulisic said the team gave its best effort and hoped fans recognised their commitment, despite falling short of their goals. "We did the best that we can. I hope that people can see that and believed in us and there's more than what we wanted to accomplish," Pulisic noted. Sergino Dest echoed Pulisic's sentiments, saying the team was proud of its efforts but disappointed with the result, adding that they believed they could have done more in the match. "I don't have a lot of words, we're really disappointed. It just wasn't our day. We are proud but we felt that we could have done more than what we did, so at the moment we're just disappointed," said Sergino Dest. Chris Richards said the team hopes the World Cup run marks the beginning of greater success, adding that reaching the quarter-finals should become the standard for the group and the federation moving forward. "Hopefully this is just the [beginning] of what's to come for this group and this federation.I think it should be the normal, at least the quarter-finals. Hopefully we've drawn a line in the sand for the future," Chris Richards. In their World Cup campaign, the USA defeated Paraguay 4-1, Australia 2-0, and Bosnia and Herzegovina 2-0 in the Round of 32, while suffering a 3-2 defeat to Turkey before being knocked out by Belgium. Coming to the match, Belgium stormed into the quarter-finals of the FIFA World Cup 2026 with a commanding 4-1 victory over the hosts, the United States, at Seattle Stadium. Charles De Ketelaere starred with a brace to earn the Player of the Match award, while Hans Vanaken scored his first-ever FIFA World Cup goal and substitute Romelu Lukaku added a stoppage-time strike, marking his third consecutive World Cup match with a goal. Belgium dominated much of the contest despite the USA briefly equalising through Malik Tillman's deflected free-kick. A costly goalkeeping error by Matt Freese allowed Belgium to extend their lead before Lukaku sealed the emphatic win late on. The defeat ended the United States' campaign, making them the last of the three co-host nations to exit the tournament after Canada and Mexico. Belgium will next face Spain in the quarter-finals on July 10 after the Spanish side knocked out Portugal in the Round of 16. (ANI)
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