The United States Men’s national team punched their ticket to the Round of 16 at the 2026 FIFA World Cup courtesy of a 2-0 win over Bosnia and Herzegovina. This set up a match with current top 10 nation Belgium in the Round of 16. If that sounded familiar to you, then I’m here to tell you that you heard it and remembered it right: the United States and Belgium met at the same stage at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. Despite the efforts of Tim Howard, whose record-breaking 16 saves earned him the title
“Secretary of Defense”, the USMNT ultimately fell short of progressing to the quarterfinals where they would’ve gotten Argentina.
That does pose the question, how well has the USMNT played against the top 10 nations in the world? That’s what we are here to bring you. Let’s review the entire list of results that the USMNT has played since 1993 (which is when the top 10 rankings were first established). Let’s take a trip down memory lane and review the results of the USMNT against the top 10 countries in the world.
Overall:
- That’s a record of 18 wins, 11 draws, and 36 losses.
- The goal difference reads: 67 goals scored, 107 goals conceded for a GD of -40.
- The USMNT hasn’t won against a top 10 team since beating Germany in 2015.
- Top 10 teams have managed to shut out the USMNT 26 times since 1993.
- Only three wins against the #1 ranked team in 33 years.
That’s an astonishing thing to hear or read. Let’s forget about the other teams for now because the focus is now on a specific country, the one that the United States will be playing against in Seattle. The one they faced 12 years ago.
United States vs. Belgium: Head-to-head record
Because the United States will face a top 10 side in a competitive fixture for the first time in nearly four years, I thought I’d focus on the historical matchup of both countries. The USMNT has played against Belgium seven times before, two of which were at the World Cup. The stats aren’t confidence inspiring:
That reads as only one win in seven attempts from the USMNT against Belgium. Let this sink in for a second: the last time that the United States won against Belgium ever was during the first ever World Cup, and that was 96 years ago! The two sides have also not met each other in a competitive fixture since that nailbiter of a match in Brazil. With head coach Mauricio Pochettino leading the team and with Belgium looking relatively vulnerable, the USMNT might finally break their Belgian duck and perhaps “Poch” will have rectified the issues from that friendly defeat in March to guide the United States to their first quarterfinal since 2002.
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