USMNT 2 - 5 Belgium reactions with Clint Dempsey: The Deuce LIVE 03/28/26

March 28, 2026·52 min·4 clips

Clint Dempsey reveals why the USMNT fell apart in the second half against Belgium.

The scoreline lands like a shovel. Belgium's 5-2 win in Atlanta becomes a rough second-to-last-game check for a USMNT side trying to dream before the squad announcement. The host opens wounded and jumpy. There is hope for a while, then Belgium lifts its level, and the American setup starts looking less like a plan than something everyone is chasing. Clint Dempsey brings the calm. With 142 caps and plenty of national-team scar tissue, he does not let one friendly toss the striker depth chart into the fire. The first half gives everyone just enough to believe. The second half gets hot fast, with warning signs all over the field and Belgium showing how quickly belief can get punished at this level. The pressure theme keeps coming back. Club form, national-team goals, and the need for one ugly finish to shake confidence loose all feed the worry around the attack. The fifth goal hurts. The host compares the defending to Tottenham Hotspur and hears the Netherlands game again, where adjustments exposed American naivete. The tactical concern is plain. Belgium changed intensity and shape. The US could not find the next gear once the game started asking harder questions. Balogun barely leaves a mark on the night. Pepe and Patrick Adjiman combine late in garbage time, and Dempsey treats that as useful evidence without pretending it ends the argument. Haji Wright's injury matters too. The striker race stays live because all four options have done enough for club and country to keep it messy. The mood never really comes back. Even the jokes, from Atlanta airport security to the Tottenham jab, sit inside a nervous read of a team running out of rehearsal time. Portugal waits on Tuesday. The close thanks Dempsey, but the drumbeat is hope getting dragged into another test.

As heard by us

A lively USMNT postgame that balances the jokes, the fallout, and the striker debate.

Men In Blazers turns a USMNT setback into a brisk, bruising postgame hang. The 5-2 loss to Belgium in Atlanta, the first-half goal that briefly lifted hopes, and the second-half collapse all land with urgency before the squad is announced.

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Why you'd press play

You want the blunt aftermath of a 5-2 USMNT loss to Belgium, with Clint Dempsey in the room.

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