All the fuss, the Fox hype, the controversy, the expectations - they all amounted to absolutely nothing Monday night when the U.S. team was embarrassed in the Round of 16 by a soccer nation with the population of Ohio.

The Americans were outclassed and discombobulated from the start against Belgium, yielding two easy, early goals to forward Charles De Ketelaere and falling 4-1 in a World Cup match that was decided more by blunders than by resolve.

With three rounds yet to come in this tournament, all three host nations are now eliminated and tickets should become considerably easier to find. Too little, too late.

The Belgians fired six shots at Matt Freese in the very first 10 minutes, scoring on one of several American mistakes, encouraged by the sparse, three-back formation ordered up by coach Mauricio Pochettino. Back on their heels, the Americans never fully recovered.

This was a thorough and thoroughly demoralizing defeat. It didn't matter a bit that Folarin Balogun, whose red-card suspension was lifted by an accommodating FIFA, was featured in the U.S. starting lineup. Or that a trio of Belgian superstars began the game on the bench. It was simply not a fair matchup.

The Americans were unprepared for the tempo and technical skill of their opponents. This looked a bit too much like 2014, when U.S. goalkeeper Tim Howard was forced to make a record 16 saves against this same nation during yet another Round of 16 defeat.

The early goal was far too easy for Belgium, a simple tuck-in by wide-open De Ketelaere off a perfectly-timed cross. The Americans finally managed their first shot and lone goal in the 31st minute, when Malik Tillman's free kick evened the score after a fortunate deflection off a defender's head on the Belgium wall.

The euphoria in Seattle lasted all of 61 seconds. That was when De Ketelaere nodded in a header off another unchecked cross from the left wing for the game winner. Matters only grew worse after that, when Freese was caught far out of the box, then stripped of the ball in the 57th minute. Hans Vanaken simply deposited the ball into the net from about 3

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