The U.S. Men’s National Team fell 5-2 to Belgium on Saturday in a crucial pre-World Cup friendly. It was the USMNT’s first loss since September and its first time playing a top 10 international team during coach Mauricio Pochettino’s tenure.
Plenty went into the USMNT’s failure against Belgium, but much of the narrative has circled around goalkeeper Matt Turner, who swapped in for regular starter Matt Freese.
Pochettino gave Turner his first USMNT start since June 2025 in a bid to experiment with his goalkeeping lineup before the World Cup. But was it a good experiment? Not exactly. Pochettino’s test hurt Turner, hijacked the USMNT narrative and failed to generate the data he desperately wanted from his goalkeeper set.
An impossible situation
The USMNT may have lost to Belgium, but against the odds, Turner actually played something of a blinder. He was far from perfect, but he made five stellar saves over the course of the evening and kept his cool when the game went south. And thankfully, he was able to see and appreciate that after the match ended.
“I’m going to always evaluate myself very fairly. I’ve stood in front of here and criticized myself many times,” Turner said. “But tonight, I felt like I did have some really good moments. I was able to make some good saves. I just wish I could have one or two of them back because I don’t think the scoreline really reflected the balance or flow of the game.”
He was right to back himself. The USMNT’s loss didn’t come about because Turner failed to perform. But by subbing Turner in at the last second — and making him the biggest roster surprise of the day — Pochettino ensured that the narrative would circle Turner no matter how well he did. Every goal concession led to frustrated questions of “why Turner” and “why now,” even when Turner wasn’t the problem.
With the public narrative bound to damn him anyway, Turner never stood a chance of pushing for a World Cup spot through this performance. Only a USMNT blowout — something Turner couldn’t control from his spot between the sticks — would’ve saved him from being the general population’s scapegoat on the day.