In one of the more stunning moves in World Cup history, FIFA restored Folarin Balogun’s eligibility for the United States’ round of 16 clash with Belgium less than 36 hours before the Monday night kickoff in Seattle.

Shame he’s not a defender.

While the whole American sporting public — including the president, apparently — fixated on the one-game suspension of a striker most hadn’t heard of until the United States’ World Cup opener on June 12, Belgium exposed what this team’s consistent critics had said for ages: The American talent pool still isn’t good enough in the back.

Despite the circus of the last 36 hours that followed FIFA’s sudden reversal of Balogun’s red-card ban, that truth shone in the bright Seattle sun during an embarrassing 4-1 loss that is arguably the most humbling American result in its World Cup finals history.

An imperfect back line was terrorized on a near-consistent basis in the opening 10 minutes, resulting in Charles De Ketelaere’s deserved ninth-minute opener. Tim Ream’s declining ability was punished with a brutal second goal from De Ketelaere on 33 minutes, just two minutes after a real moment of good luck in the form of Malik Tillman’s deflected free-kick leveler.

And the flickers of uncertainty that Matt Freese sparked while adjusting to the role of U.S. No. 1 goalkeeper became a full-on blaze during a shambolic third Belgium goal that was gifted to Hans Vanaken.

Romelu Lukaku’s added-time strike will be completely forgotten, save by those who might have eyed his stocky frame and thought of another famous wide-bodied star who once brought deceptive speed to that Seattle playing surface on Monday evenings.

It was enough to ask what has been learned since that terrible night in Trinidad nine years ago when the Yanks conceded twice to the Soca Warriors and shockingly failed to reach the 2018 World Cup in Russia.

Not much, it seems, as American soccer continues trying to run before it can walk.

Major League Soccer, its top league, has expanded from 22 to 30 teams since that night. It has attracted some of the world’s biggest stars, including Lionel Messi and Zlatan Ibrahimovic. What it hasn’t done is modernize the salary structure to enable teams to develop and retain talent, build depth and win meaningful games on the continental level.

U.S. Soccer has hired two full-time men’s coaches in the time since.

The first ridiculously pledged to change how the world viewed American soccer, as if anyone elsewhere around the world devoted large amounts of time to the subject. Then he managed a respectable but perfectly average showing in 2022, then talked his way into an ugly controversy while trying to toot his own horn at a supposedly off-the-record leadership retreat.

The second one leaned all-in to the American underdog mantra of Miracle on Ice vintage, which suddenly felt a lot less authentic when the president lobbied FIFA as if he were a Soviet.

In between, the centerbacks didn’t get any better, and the goalkeepers got worse. The team beat its weaker opponents, but no one else, and again exited at the round of 16.

And the 2026 World Cup passed, not as an enormous opportunity seized, but as one of the biggest missed chances in our nation’s sporting history.

–Ian Nicholas Quillen, Field Level Media