My heart broke watching this game. It was evident from the kick-off the USMNT was out of sorts. Nervous, stabbing the ball, forever turning it over. What was very (somewhat embarrassingly) apparent to me was that the level of ball skill was easily one or two steps below over national teams.
In part, some responsibility falls on Pochettino for not having his team fully prepared for this big match. Finally, I do think some players may not have laid it all out on the field as well.
To be perfectly honest, our USMNT isn’t all that great when compared to so many other countries. Being a host nation meant that we didn’t have to qualify, and I’m not altogether sure we would have qualified for this WC without that designation.