World Cup: Day 26 recap and Round of 16 Day 4 open thread

SEATTLE, WASHINGTON - JULY 06: Mauricio Pochettino, Head Coach of the United States, reacts after the 1-4 loss during the FIFA World Cup 2026 Round of 16 match between USA and Belgium at Seattle Stadium on July 06, 2026 in Seattle, Washington. (Photo by Sarah Stier - FIFA/FIFA via Getty Images) | FI

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2026 World Cup, Round of 16 Matchday 4: Match thread and discussion

What is the story about?

No need to go into much detail. We all watched the match between USA and Belgium, and while there will be lots of thinkpieces about the CONTEXT of the match, what happened before it, and where USA goes from here, the fact remains that USA played a terrible match against a pretty good European team and got their asses handed to them. End of story.

Here’s your daily recap and upcoming matches for today.

Day 26 Recap

Portugal 0-1 Spain

Goals: Merino (90+1)

“Hey Siri, show me the complete opposite of Mexico vs. England.” What a stinker

of a match. Neither team felt like they got out of second gear, and Spain’s goal felt like a relief, mostly that we no longer had to bear witness to 30 extra minutes of that garbage match. And also we got to see Ronaldo cry. That was nice.

USA 1-4 Belgium

Goals: Tillman (31’) | De Ketelaere (9’, 33’), Vanaken (57’), Lukaku (90+3)

No need to belabor the point — this was just a paddlin’ pure and simple. On paper this was a coin flip match, but that required USA’s players to, almost to a man, not play like complete trash. Malik Tillman was USA’s best player and that’s pretty much only on the quality of his free kick. Lots of soul-searching to come for this USA team, but it’s hard not to see it as a cycle wasted. Also — time to send Tim Ream to a nice quiet farm upstate.