DOHA, Qatar – Inexperience ended up taking its toll. The United States, the team that put the eleven youngest starters in the World Cup on the pitch, Qatar 2026, said goodbye with a defeat against the Netherlands whose result (3 -1) did not reflect what was seen on the pitch.
Today’s defeat is tough. But Team USA completed a more than decent World Cup, with one win, two draws in which it was dominant, and one loss. The youth of the team, with most of the members in clubs from the strongest European leagues, suggests that there are good prospects for the World Cup 2026 in the United States, Mexico and Canada.
The match at the Khalifa International Stadium in Doha, the temple of Qatari sport and the only one that is not totally new for this World Cup, started with a dominant United States . Already in minute 2 Christian Pulisic had an unbeatable chance, only against the Dutch goalkeeper Andries Noppert. But his innocent shot found the foot of the orange goalkeeper, today dressed in purple.
In a counterattack by the same band as Pulisic, the US once again had a superiority that it failed to take advantage of. What he did do in the minute 76 Memphis Depay in the first arrival of the Netherlands. In football there is a law: he who forgives, loses. And today it was fulfilled once again.