Jul 16, 2026, 04:06 PM ET

United States men's national team captain Tim Ream expressed that he and his teammates felt deep shock after their subpar display led to elimination by Belgium in the 2026 World Cup.

The Americans entered the round-of-16 contest with strong optimism after solid group-stage results and a convincing win over Bosnia-Herzegovina in the round of 32, even while reduced to ten men for more than thirty minutes following the dismissal of leading scorer Folarin Balogun.

Yet Mauricio Pochettino's side endured a harsh 4-1 defeat to Belgium last week filled with American errors. It marked the fourth time in the past five World Cups that the U.S. exited at this stage, the sole exception being 2018 when qualification was missed.

"It's disbelief," Ream told ESPN's "The Pat McAfee Show" on Thursday regarding the post-match locker-room mood. "It's trying to piece together and grasp what occurred because it stood in complete contrast to how we performed earlier.

"I think the feeling in the room was shock and attempting to figure out where and why we produced that kind of game."

The side has drawn intense scrutiny after the loss, especially forward Christian Pulisic.

The AC Milan attacker departed in the 59th minute with a right ankle injury and watched the collapse from the sideline. It was his second injury of the tournament. After a strong opening half against Paraguay, a calf problem limited him across three matches. He concluded the event without a goal and recorded only one assist.

Ream stressed that the entire group fell short of earlier levels.

"You mentioned Christian there, but I don't think anybody reached their best level at all," he added. "It just seemed like everything that could go wrong did go wrong that night, which is unfortunate because we invested so much effort to reach that stage."

The U.S. opened the home-soil tournament with victories over Paraguay and Australia, the first consecutive World Cup wins for the American men since 1930. Despite the final disappointment, Ream maintained that the team advanced soccer's development in the country.

"One of the secondary conversations we held as a group was how we can inspire and attract more people to this game," Ream said. "How can we encourage them to embrace the game, feel passionate about it, support the team, and back the sport even more? And what must we do as players to achieve that?

"And that was correct. We need to deliver performances and secure victories. Throughout the tournament we sensed the interest grow and grow and grow. From that perspective, I think we are proud of the performances and the matches we won."