The United States men's national team had one job as co-host of the 2026 World Cup: not embarrass itself on home soil. That plan died in Seattle on July 6, when Belgium ran the Americans off the field 4-1 in the Round of 16, ending the host nation's tournament before it ever reached the quarterfinals. Belgium moved on to face Spain. The U.S. moved on to getting torched by its own fanbase.
Nobody torched harder than Dave Portnoy. Barstool's founder had been all-in on this team for weeks, and the second the final whistle blew he was ripping off his USA gear on camera and going scorched-earth on social media. Days later he was still going, calling the performance against Belgium a setback for the sport in this country and making it personal.
Portnoy's own tweet, posted alongside the Wake Up Barstool segment breaking down the loss.
That segment — Wake Up Barstool's post-mortem on the loss — turned into its own moment. The hosts put up a graphic asking who's to blame for the loss to Belgium, and it became the launching pad for Portnoy's now-viral line about the team: they didn't just lose, they looked like a group that had never played the game before. It's the kind of quote that sums up how badly this landed with the fan base that had actually bought in on USMNT hype for the first time in years.
The Wake Up Barstool crew reacting to Portnoy's takedown of the USMNT during the same show.
What makes this sting more than a normal group-stage-and-out is the context. This was supposed to be the breakthrough tournament — home fields, home crowds, a golden generation of American-born talent finally getting a real shot on the biggest stage. Instead the U.S. couldn't get out of the Round of 16, and Belgium — a team that's had the Americans' number for a decade — did it again. The internet noticed the pile-on too, with fans cosigning the takedown in the replies to the same Wake Up Barstool segment.
Fans reacting to the same Barstool segment picking apart who's to blame for the loss.
The bigger question hanging over Barstool's coverage now is whether any of this actually moves the needle on how America treats soccer. Portnoy's already floated wild fixes in the aftermath — up to and including drafting better athletes into the sport — which tells you how little patience is left. Even the lighter content out of the building has an edge to it, like the debate over how many wins a fan would trade from their favorite football team for a USA World Cup title, a question that only makes sense to ask because the honest answer right now is that USMNT still isn't good enough to be in that conversation.
Belgium's on to a quarterfinal with Spain. The USMNT is home, and depending on who you ask around Barstool this week, that might be the most predictable outcome of the entire tournament.