The USMNT’s 4-1 defeat against Belgium in the round of 16 didn’t just end their home World Cup campaign; it sent the entire soccer ecosystem into a tailspin. From questions about the youth academies to blaming the players and coaches, no one was safe from accusations. However, the loss was the worst thing to have happened to the USMNT in a hundred years, according to an iconic media personality.

“USMNT embarrassed our country, they embarrassed me, they embarrassed everyone who stuck their neck out for them,” Dave Portnoy, the founder of Barstool Sports, called out the USMNT on his podcast. “They didn’t just lose; they looked like they had never played the game before. The stage was too big, the lights were too bright.”

Heading into the World Cup knockouts, the USMNT was in fine spirits. For the first time in 96 years, they picked up back-to-back victories in the World Cup, won their group for the first time, and fans started believing their team could go all the way. A 2-0 victory against Bosnia and Herzegovina in the round of 32 proved to be their last joy.

“They had no defense; the goalie looked like a deer on ice,” he continued, his approach of being hyper-critical of the USMNT. “It was the most pathetic performance I’ve ever seen from a team that I threw my support behind. They set back soccer close to a hundred years. That’s what they did to us.”

Former USMNT pro Alexi Lalas even called for the head coach, Mauricio Pochettino, to be sacked following the defeat.

However, it is worth noting that the USMNT has very few players who could be tagged in the world-class bracket. Christian Pulisic, their talisman, is the closest they have got to a player that could decide matches in an instant, and Pulisic too hasn’t been at his best of late due to niggling injuries.

The other players like Folarin Balogun, Malik Tillman and Tyler Adams are good in their own right, but seriously lack the experience of playing high-quality knockout soccer, which so often makes the difference.

In comparison, teams that often go all the way, like Spain and France, have multiple world-class players with plenty of experience who could step up and change games.

Former USMNT goalkeeper Tim Howard already warned during the group stages that the USMNT could not go all the way just yet because they are playing in front of a buoyed home crowd.

Rather than the failure to win the World Cup, it was the manner of the defeat that hurt millions of fans and pundits.

During the 2014 World Cup, the USA lost only 2-1 to Belgium in the round of 16. After 12 years, the team, which is in better shape now and is brimming with stars, barely managed to lay a glove on the aging Belgium team.

The tough questions will not stop anytime soon, as the USMNT has to go through another four-year cycle with pressure yet again.