So, a goal at the death closes the group stage for the US with a loss. I'm not too upset about it although it was a frustrating way to end the night. This could be a net positive for the US since I could envision a scenario where they go into the match against Bosnia Herzegovina (a certainty now) overconfident after three group stage wins. The result against Turkiye could be a glass of cold water thrown in the face of the USMNT to get them focused on what comes next.
The evening did confirm the lack of depth for the team, especially defensively. Let's hope everyone stays healthy for the rest of their World Cup run.
Over in Canada, Luc de Fougerolles has made a strong case for moving up to Fulham's first team squad. He's been a leader at the back and continued to play well. His long ball to Saliba unlocked the Swiss defense for Canada's only goal against them. Remind you of any other Fulham CB before his form took a turn in 2026??
What a night that was for Issa Diop! I was pulling for the Dutch, but I couldn't help but be excited for Diop's injury time equalizer. Diop closed out the Premier League season by heading in the winner against Newcastle and he's now got an even more memorable goal to save Morocco from exiting the tournament. Start this guy for Fulham and put him in the box on set pieces!
And Bobb plays the the perfect pass for the hockey assist on Haaland’s winner for Norway.
Fulham’s players are looking good on the world’s biggest stage.
The US gets through after an unfortunate , but probably deserved red card for Balogun. It was clearly accidental, but if that had happened to a US player I would have expected the same. Balogun will miss the next match against Belgium if it isn't overturned on appeal. [EDIT: An appeal is not available in this situation, so no Balogun on Monday]
I thought the US started really good again, but credit to Bosnia and Herzegovina for actually getting the closest to scoring (on that early corner) prior to first half injury time. The US was patient but also creative about breaking through Bosnia's defense and thankfully got their deserved goal before the half. The guys also did a nice job of totally switching their approach after going down to 10, but I still would have preferred they held the ball a little more.
Belgium are not what they once were but they will still be the toughest team the US has faced so far. However the US is really clicking now so anything is possible and I'm excited to see what happens when our first team faces an opponent who won't be so defensive.
Fulham (if you don't include Coventry) is the only PL team to have all their World Cup players still in the tournament. Sadly that will come to an end as we get Fulham v Fulham in both the Canada/Morocco and USA/Belgium matches.
That was such a weird finish for the USMNT's run and a real letdown after what we saw over the past month. For starters, the President's determination to insert himself into this clearly backfired. Belgium was given classic bulletin board material: a bully breaking the rules to get an advantage. A classic trope of underdog stories. Credit to Belgium, they took that and ran all over the US with it. Belgium, except against New Zealand, had struggled to get any offense going without Lukaku. Against Senegal their starting striker, De Ketelaere, was so bad that I thought he would single-handedly cost Belgium the match. He sat back, was tentative, and totally ineffective. Through three prior starts he had zero goals and zero assists. Then last night he comes out and scores a brace, including one where he absolutely trucks Ream to get to the ball, and adds an assist. That version of De Ketelaere had not been seen in the tournament before. The rest of the Belgium squad was up for it too. They closed off passing lanes and absolutely smothered the US when they were on the ball. This led to errors from the US and goals for Belgium. The US had more possession but only managed two shots on target to Belgium's seven.
We don't get to see an alternate universe to discover what happened if Pepi had been given a start and a more sluggish Belgium similar to the previous four matches had taken the pitch. We just have to wonder again about what might have been.
Finally, this episode was a reminder of what a piece-of-shit organization FIFA is. The football has been amazing and caused me to forget that for a little while. This was a reminder of why I was second-guessing my interest in the World Cup before the opening kickoff. I'd like to think this instance of politically motivated decision making was so ridiculous that it could lead to meaningful reform, but that will never happen.
The Poch experiment was interesting, but I hope it's over. That's not to say I have a better candidate in mind, but I've always thought Pochettiono was more lucky than good, and with a career pattern of failing up. A goat should be able to win Ligue 1 with PSG. If Poch turns down his contract extension and leaves (a Tottenham job is likely to open at some point this season, as it does every season), who should be the next USMNT head coach?
Fulham's World Cup players generally did well, but none could make it past the quarterfinals. The top four ranked teams in the world comprise the final four in the tournament, so it isn't entirely surprising that a team like Fulham isn't represented in the remaining squads.
I'd say that Diop probably had the best performance from the Fulham cohort. He unfortunately appear again and again in clips of Mbappe's goal, but that was due to how good that shot was and not because any poor defending on his part. Overall he was solid on a team that put together a very good run, and it was his personal determination to score that pulled Morocco into extra time against the Netherlands.
De Fougerolles also did well at CB for Canada, but also played an unfortunate part in how their run ended. As Canada was pressing to a goal against Morocco as time ran out his pass was intercepted and the following goal sealed Canada's fate. Still, through the tournament he showed a lot more poise than I expected and I hope he can convert this into a role on the first team with Fulham.
Castagne was all over the place for Belgium - he played on the left, he played on the right, he made defensive stops, he got an assist, he played every minute of the last four matches, and he almost scored a screamer against that US that made it clear what kind of attitude Belgium brought to that match. Like Diop and DeFougerolles he had frustration at the end as Spain's initial goal just barely snuck under his leg and then he couldn't quite beat Merino to the spilled ball on the second goal.
For Norway, Berge had a central role while Bobb served mostly as a sub. Berge played every minute except for when Norway rested players against France. It was a familiar performance for Berge - calmly leading from the defensive midfield with some good opportunities that never led to a goal. He did seem to play with more energy for Norway, especially impressive when deep in injury time against England. I don't know if that is due to management styles or the impact of playing in the World Cup.
Finally there was Robinson who had a very Robinson-esque performance for the US. Some great breaks down the left to create opportunities, but sometimes the crosses were lacking. He played a lot of minutes, but never did get an assist. There were a number of players from the US who leave the World Cup on a negative note, but I don't think Robinson is one of them. If anything, he seemed to be back to his pre-injury form which should give Fulham more reliability at LB going into the new season.
I was pretty please with the showing from the Fulham players and they should be returning to London feeling good about their personal performances once the inevitable disappointment of a World Cup exit wears off.
Diop needs to start...if Fulham are lucky enough to keep him after his performances.
COYW
The tournament ends with only one player recording an assist against the champions, Spain. It was Timothy Castagne! Well done Timo.
That final was exactly what I expected from Spain/Argentina - a boring match dominated by Spain that somehow stayed close. I had been hoping for some kind of Messi magic to close out the tournament, but by the end of the match I was fully behind Spain since they were clearly the better team. It was unfortunate too that Argentina lived up to the worst that was said about them after the final whistle blew. One more reason to be happy that Spain lifted the trophy. Now they get to defend it on home soil in 2030.