• Milan forward was subbed out in a 4-1 loss

• Pulisic had been criticized for his lack of availability

Christian Pulisic suffered a microfracture and bone bruise in his leg in the United States’ 4-1 loss to Belgium in the World Cup last 16 on Monday, US Soccer announced.

Pulisic suffered the injury in the second half in Seattle and was removed shortly afterward. He underwent X-ray and MRI scans on Tuesday to determine the extent of the injury, which is expected to keep Pulisic out for several weeks. US Soccer said the federation and Milan are working collaboratively on his rehab plan.

Mauricio Pochettino’s team delivered several thrilling performances on home soil. The way it ended was somewhat less exhilarating

So now what? How are we supposed to think about this supposedly golden generation of the United States men’s national team who have fallen short of expectations at this World Cup on home soil?

How do we come to terms with the sense that this team beat Paraguay 4-1 in their opener – the most impressive performance in the program’s history – but also lost dismally against Belgium by the same scoreline in the last 16?

Leander Schaerlaeckens is the author of The Long Game: U.S. Men’s Soccer and Its Savage, Four-Decade Journey to the Top, or Thereabouts, which is out now. He teaches at Marist University.

Who is winning the battle to be top scorer at the World Cup? Live and updated throughout the tournament

All-time World Cup goalscorers

The Golden Boot is awarded to the World Cup’s top goalscorer, with assists used as a tie-breaker if two or more players finish level. The 2026 tournament has three former Golden Boot winners taking part: Kylian Mbappé of France (eight goals in 2022), England’s Harry Kane (six goals in 2018) and James Rodríguez of Colombia (six goals in 2014).

Mbappé and Kane are among the pre-tournament favourites to finish top scorer in North America, alongside Norway’s Erling Haaland – making his World Cup debut – and Argentina’s Lionel Messi.

• Team manager and security member missed match

• Incident may have been related to Balogun controversy

Two US Soccer staff members were suspended by Fifa for their team’s World ⁠Cup defeat to Belgium on Monday.

Team manager Sam Zapatka and US ⁠Soccer vice-⁠president ​of security Frank Pannell weren’t allowed at the match. Fifa has not given a specific reason for the suspensions.

The Americans crashed out in disappointing fashion, but there were positives from the tournament on the whole. We look at how the roster performed

Stats from fotmob.com, Opta and Fifa; players listed in order of minutes played.

Weston McKennie, center/attacking midfield (Juventus)

We assess the teams who played in the tournament’s last 16 before the next round of games begins

A very different side of France came to the fore, proving they are not mere showboaters, there is plenty of steel, grit and determination among the ranks. It was a brutal encounter as they became targets for Paraguay, who added menace to the low block. No one in blue retreated to the shadows, instead taking the overaggression head on, using it as fuel. “To anyone who wants to go to war with us, this is what you should expect,” Rayan Cherki said. It was the biggest test they have faced this far but intimidation tactics do not work, it transpires, leaving everyone else wondering how to stop them.

• Pochettino awaits talks over future with US team

• Federation backs coach but leaves door open

Spend any time around US men’s national team head coach Mauricio Pochettino and you’ll likely notice a medallion hanging from a bracelet on his right wrist. It is emblazoned with an engraving of Saint Christopher, the patron saint of travelers.

It’s a detail that feels appropriate for Pochettino, or any high-level manager, really, all of whom are inherently nomadic. The Argentinian has enjoyed stability at a handful of stops but has also done his share of moving, having shepherded five different clubs prior to his arrival in the United States about 22 months ago.

For much of the star’s career, this tournament has been held as a high-water mark. Instead much of the USMNT’s success came without his involvement

There was a quiver in Christian Pulisic’s voice as he answered the final question posed to him at the 2026 World Cup.

On its face, the question was straightforward: how did the overall experience of this tournament meet his expectations? The subtext was overwhelming. For eight years, this World Cup co-hosted by the United States has been viewed as the potential high-water mark of his career and those of his teammates. Every machination of American soccer has operated with signposts displaying “2026” in bold.

The USA men’s run at a home World Cup had attracted people who usually ignore soccer. Instead of triumph, they saw a humbling by Belgium

In the closing moments of the USA’s 3-2 win against Portugal at the 2002 World Cup, the ESPN commentator Jack Edwards took a moment to remind viewers who had stayed up all night of the profound result they were witnessing. From his perch in Suwon, South Korea – where he was watching the first match of a campaign that would end in a quarter-final that remains the high‑water mark for the modern US men’s national team – Edwards delivered a soliloquy that cut straight to the heart of the profound role World Cups play not just for the USA men’s team but for soccer as a force in American life.

“The players on that 1950 team that beat England … this [result] is about the foundation that they laid,” Edwards said in his booming bravado as the hour crept toward 7am ET. “This is about the thousands of American families who have helped this sport grow, and the people in those pockets all over the country who have stuck with soccer. And it’s also for those seven- or eight- or nine‑year-old kids, who are going to hear about this result when they wake up in the morning and rush outside, and knock a ball against a wall, and dream of something even greater than this.”

• Fans across Belgium watched 4-1 win in early hours

• Victory ‘a real slap in the face for Trump and Infantino’

Belgium fans reacted with jubilation after the national team trounced the USA in a World Cup game that was overshadowed by the controversy over Donald Trump’s lobbying to overturn the suspension of the striker Falorin Balogun.

Belgium’s prime minister, Bart De Wever, has yet to comment on the national team’s triumph, but the official Instagram account of his cat offered a sardonic, albeit indirect sign of satisfaction. Maximus, De Wever’s beloved cat, was shown lying on a rug holding a soft toy in the image of the US president. “I slept really well last night. And you?” reads the speech bubble in Dutch.

• It says overturning red cards is a common measure

• No talk from Uefa before about ‘red line’, Fifa states

Fifa has hit back at Uefa in the war of words over the lifting of the USA striker Folarin Balogun’s suspension by accusing it of hypocrisy in its condemnation of the decision.

In a statement attributed to the chair of Fifa’s disciplinary committee, Mohammad al-Kamali, published before the USA’s last-16 defeat by Belgium, Fifa insisted that “the overturning of red cards is a common disciplinary measure” in Uefa-affiliated leagues, “yet this has never raised concerns about crossing any ‘red line’”.

The United States’ quest to get Folarin Balogun’s red card overturned may have opened a Pandora’s box – one specifically designed to contain the national team’s worst nightmares.

With a country on the verge of falling in love with this team, and tens of millions eager for a reason to embrace the glory and pride this sport can provide, there were instead questions of fairness and propriety. A star striker, who made an honest, unintentional mistake – and said and did all the right things – became a talking point. And a day later, on an otherwise beautiful Monday evening in the Pacific north-west, the United States’ World Cup dream ended with a thud.

The tournament co-hosts wilted against Belgium for a 4-1 defeat, costing them a quarter-final spot. We look at the best images from the showdown in Seattle

The tournament co-hosts crashed out with a disappointing display as Belgium proved too strong an opponent

Through four games, Belgium have retained 57% of possession with a 65% field tilt – a possession metric weighing only final-third touches – but haven’t found a way to maximize that advantage.

While possession can be a noisy statistic, viewing it in stylistic terms can be informative. So far at this World Cup, Belgium have won the possession battle in all four of their games, with Senegal playing them closest in a 52-48 split. The United States have maintained a 58% share of the ball in their four games, neck-and-neck with Garcia’s Belgium. If Mauricio Pochettino’s side can keep the ball off Belgian feet more often than not, it could unsettle the Red Devils.

European governing body’s dramatic move could have major implications for the future of the sport

Perhaps the only globally renowned figure who has been more conspicuous by his absence at this World Cup tournament than Donald Trump is the Uefa president, Aleksander Ceferin, although both men have more than made up for their silence over the past 24 hours.

By endorsing a statement in which Uefa accused Fifa of crossing “a red line” in making the “incomprehensible and unjustifiable” decision to lift the USA striker Folarin Balogun’s suspension for the last-16 tie with Belgium on Monday, Ceferin has effectively put European football on a war footing with the world governing body, a dramatic move that could have major implications for the future of the sport.

Parts of 2018’s Golden Generation still remain, but there are more than enough good players in this Belgian side to give the US headaches

• Predict the winner | Daily podcast | Download our app

The whiff of unfulfilment lingers around Belgium. The Golden Generation – and the fact it never quite achieved what it might have done – has dominated coverage of their last three tournaments. This perhaps isn’t quite fair – either on those who were part of that group or those who have followed.

Beating Brazil in the quarter-final to reach the semi-final in Russia 2018 was a fine achievement, but that side featuring Vincent Kompany, Eden Hazard, Thibaut Courtois, Romelu Lukaku and Kevin De Bruyne then lost 1-0 to France in the semi. The squad was good enough to win a tournament, but that was as close as they came. Courtois, Lukaku, De Bruyne, Axel Witsel and the right-back Thomas Meunier have all endured since 2018. The 2026 Belgium squad is not, as 2022 felt, the Golden Generation redux, just a little bit older and a little bit more tired. A new wave is emerging and, while the likes of Leandro Trossard, Youri Tielemans, Jérémy Doku and Charles De Ketelaere may not have quite the star quality of the previous generation, they’re still decent players – perhaps not World Cup winners, but certainly not to be dismissed. And remember, this is Belgium, a country of just under 12 million; it’s not realistic to think it can consistently produce potential world champions.

This is an extract from Soccer Desk: World Cup edition, a newsletter from the Guardian US that will run regularly during the tournament. Subscribe for free here.

• Trump says he asked Fifa to review red card

• Infantino confirms Trump called over Balogun

• US president insists he did not pressure Fifa

Donald Trump said on Monday that he personally asked Fifa president Gianni Infantino to review the red card shown to USA striker Folarin Balogun, saying he believed the dismissal was unfair but insisting he did not pressure football’s governing body to overturn the suspension.

The intervention by the president of a World Cup host nation has thrust Fifa’s disciplinary process into the spotlight and prompted an angry response from Belgium, who face the USA on Monday night for a place in the quarter-finals.

• Decision is ‘incomprehensible and unjustifiable’

• Football associations and politicians also speak out

• Trump confirms that he asked Fifa for a review

Fifa’s willingness to bow to the wishes of Donald Trump by lifting the suspension of USA striker Folarin Balogun from the host’s last-16 World Cup tie against Belgium was strongly criticised on Monday, with European politicians, football associations and governing body Uefa condemning the decision.

In an unprecedented intervention in the middle of a tournament, Uefa accused Fifa of crossing “a red line” by making an “incomprehensible and unjustifiable” decision to rescind Balogun’s automatic one-match ban, which it claimed undermined “the integrity of the game and the credibility of the competition.”

In pushing Fifa to reverse Folarin Balogun’s suspension, the president did the most American thing possible: assert unasked-for power to get his way

The story of Garrincha’s red card in the 1962 World Cup is the stuff of legend. The Brazilian great was sent off in the semi-final for lashing out at an opponent, but back then Fifa had no automatic one-match suspension in place. So a disciplinary committee convened the next day to decide his fate for the final.

As the story goes, the assistant referee who had the best view of the offense was paid off and disappeared, and the president of Chile, the tournament’s host, put in a call to Fifa, urging them to decide against any additional suspension. He did so for the sake of keeping one of the tournament’s most entertaining players on the field. Garrincha emerged scot-free and Brazil won their second World Cup.

The surprise move deeming the US striker eligible to play came after the American president reached out to the governing body to appeal for the change

Donald Trump has been conspicuous by his absence so far at the World Cup, but unusually he may have been making his presence felt behind the scenes with some quiet diplomacy.

In addition to failing to attend a game, despite the USA’s impressive progress to the last 16, Trump had not mentioned the tournament on social media since offering some bland recognition of record attendance figures on 28 June. All that changed on Sunday when he took to Truth Social to thank Fifa for its highly unusual decision to lift striker Folarin Balogun’s ban from Monday’s last-16 tie against Belgium.

• Trump called Infantino to reverse Balogun ban

• US plays Belgium in World Cup last 16 on Monday

Mauricio Pochettino hailed Fifa’s shock decision to suspend Folarin Balogun’s one-game ban on Sunday, reiterating his claim that the call to issue the US striker a red card was harsh.

“Everyone that really loves the sport and trusts ethics and integrity, I think we celebrate all that decision,” Pochettino said. “We were punished enough against Bosnia Herzegovina to play with 10 men for 30 minutes [because of] a decision that was completely unfair. … 99.9% of people agree there was an unfair red card.”

• Rudi Garcia likens decision to April Fools’ Day joke

• Belgian FA says it will investigate all potential options

• USMNT reaction to Fifa flip: ‘Thought it was AI at first’

As a Fifa media officer read aloud the statement confirming the governing body’s shock reversal of US striker Folarin Balogun’s suspension on Sunday, Belgium coach Rudi Garcia and goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois put their poker faces to work. Garcia stared straight down the aisle of the press conference room at Seattle Stadium. Courtois’s eyes fluttered about, perhaps masking some rolls as he faced a press pack eager to make sense of an unexpected World Cup twist.

Balogun’s reinstatement came across as a joke to the Belgian boss, though he hardly seemed ready for a laugh.

• US striker was shown red in last-32 match

• Fifa announced suspension of ban earlier Sunday

• Belgian FA ‘astonished’ by decision

Donald Trump lobbied Fifa to lift the US striker Folarin Balogun’s one-game ban for a red card received in the team’s win over Bosnia and Herzegovina, preceding Sunday’s stunning announcement that he would be available for the cohosts’ last-16 clash against Belgium in Seattle on Monday night.

Sources have told the Guardian that Trump made three calls to Fifa, starting from Wednesday, to ensure that the change was made.

The sides meet Monday for a World Cup quarter-final spot, and the USMNT’s main goal threat is able to play after a shock reversal. Here’s what to know

After a few days of preparing for the World Cup’s last 16 without their top scorer, the United States were dealt a surprise Sunday when Fifa rescinded Folarin Balogun’s red-card suspension for Monday’s match against Belgium.

Belgium’s own preparations have now been scuppered as they go from planning to face an alternative – likely either Ricardo Pepi or Haji Wright – to trying to contain one of the World Cup’s most in-form forwards.

• Belgium play Americans in the last-16 on Monday

• US have enjoyed strong support at home at the World Cup

A raucous, pro-US crowd is expected in Seattle for the Americans’ last-16 match against Belgium on Monday, but the Red Devils say that they don’t fear the atmosphere that will await them.

“I think we just have to … show balls on the pitch,” left-back Maxim De Cuyper said on Friday. “Try to play your own game. If you play against 80,000 supporters or with 80,000, you have to try to do the same.”

A pastor who prays with President Donald Trump says he had never heard of Russia's drone campaign against civilians in Kherson—until Euromaidan Press told him.

"I have not heard about this," said Pastor Mark Burns, one of Trump's closest spiritual advisers, when briefed this week on Russia's "human safari" against civilians in Kherson and the drone siege trapping thousands of people in the occupied region across the river. By the end of the conversation, he had pledged to raise it with the president, senators, and members of Congress from both parties.

The campaign Burns had not heard of has a UN crime-against-humanity finding, named suspects facing war-crimes charges, a draft US bill, and a bipartisan screening at the US Capitol behind it. A man who prays with the president learned of it this week, from a journalist.

What he didn't know

For more than a year, Russian forces have used first-person-view drones to hunt civilians in Kherson's streets—women walking to the store, cyclists, bus passengers, emergency responders, journalists, even animals. Human Rights Watch and the UN's Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine have concluded the attacks amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Across the river, 5,000 to 6,000 civilians remain trapped in occupied Oleshky, Hola Prystan, and nearby settlements, under what Ukraine has called a drone-controlled siege—mined roads, blocked aid, and no reliable food, medicine, or power. EP reported on the UN's findings in November. In September, the UN concluded the campaign amounts to a crime against humanity; the Security Service of Ukraine has since charged 10 operators from Russia's 404th Motorized Rifle Regiment with war crimes in absentia.

"Terrifying," he said in an interview with Euromaidan Press. "I did not know about this dire situation and that innocent people were being targeted in this human safari. It's becoming the new killing fields. That's what the Nazis used to do to the Jews. Russians are doing this now to the innocent people of Kherson."

He drew a line between combat and what he called deliberate attacks on civilians: "The fact that Russians are using drones to target innocent people—that is not war. These are war crimes. Targeting innocent people, children, and hospitals is against the Geneva Convention. They're attacking churches. They're attacking journalists. This is at the hands of Putin, a man who claims to be a Christian and claims to have moral authority. But yet the Russian Orthodox Church blesses missiles. They bless these drones that go out to kill innocent children, kill innocent people. And they're not trying to win a war. They are simply trying to terrorize the people. It's their mission. And that's what the world is starting to see."

He said he would raise it with US leadership—"the President, the Senators, the Congress, Democrats, and Republicans"—calling it something that "needs to be heard."

Explore further

UN traces Kherson’s “human safari” up the chain of command — to Putin himself

A gap he says is closing—but wasn't closed for him

Burns argued that American public awareness of Russian disinformation is improving. "The veil of the Russian propaganda is breaking," he said. "It is falling. More and more people in America are seeing right through the Russian propaganda and lies."

He said this a few minutes after saying he had not heard of the Kherson campaign, which the UN documented months ago. Both statements are his.

Burns traced his own shift to a 2025 visit to Bucha and Irpin, where he said seeing the evidence firsthand changed his understanding of the war.

Where he says US support stands

Burns said the US does not trust Russia—"We're not friends with Russia"—and pointed to the Ukraine Support Act, which the House passed in June with more than $8 billion in military financing loans for Ukraine. "We just passed an $8 billion bill to support the war effort in Ukraine," he said. The bill has cleared the House; it still needs Senate approval and the president's signature before it becomes law.

He said Ukraine's fight serves European security broadly—"Ukraine is on the front lines for Europe"—and that US intelligence assessments he's aware of see Putin's ambitions extending past Ukraine: "He will continue to Georgia, Poland, Moldova, and the Balkan states in his attempt to reestablish the former USSR. He's using Ukraine as a test."

He described relations between Kyiv and Washington as improved since President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's meeting with Trump at the G7, saying Trump "recently said that Ukraine is doing an amazing job" and "is winning the war."

What comes next

Burns said he would make the Kherson tragedy one of his rallying cries. "This is about spiritual diplomacy," he said. "And in the name of faith, that is my spiritual obligation as a man of God to do whatever it takes to promote peace and to promote the well-being of the innocent."

"I often say that Ukraine has the most powerful nation and the most powerful military in Europe," he added. "It is pushing back the full might of the Russian empire, the Russian Federation. 20,000–30,000 Russian soldiers are dying every month at the hands of the Ukrainians, and not because Ukrainians want war, but because they are defending their home."

Burns did not specify whether he meant killed or killed and wounded. Independent counts of Russian deaths run lower. Mediazona and the BBC's Russian service have confirmed more than 229,000 Russian soldiers killed by name as of late June 2026—a floor rather than a full toll, since the count includes only deaths verifiable through open sources. British intelligence has put the figure far higher: the head of GCHQ said in May that nearly 500,000 Russian troops had been killed since 2022. Ukraine's General Staff, which reports killed and wounded together, logs Russian losses at roughly 1,000 or more a day.

Burns said he plans to visit Ukraine as soon as August and is considering a trip to Kherson itself, "to let people know that the President has not forgotten."

Whether that follows through—and whether it changes anything in Washington—is untested. What's on record now is narrower and more specific: a pledge, made after being shown what he says he didn't know.

Explore further

Global protests demand end to Russia’s “human safari” as lawmakers propose new sanctions bill

There are plenty of reasons for Americans to feel discomfort about the behavior of their country. But sports have a way of bringing joy and unity

The US men’s national team are on the verge of history. One win away from matching their best-ever run in the World Cup’s modern era, they are playing with more verve and quality than they ever have before at this stage. Wednesday’s win over Bosnia and Herzegovina has begotten a rarity: American soccer, in the spotlight, in America.

To longtime US soccer fans, the question of whether to support this particular team at this particular time is barely a question. Or if it is one, it’s vaguely along the lines of “should I breathe?”

• Striker’s one-match ban will not be increased

• Balogun says yellow card would have been fair

• Pepi and Wright among options against Belgium

Folarin Balogun fielded questions on the morning of his 25th birthday, though the cards being discussed weren’t filled with kind notes and two-dollar bills.

Per Fifa rules, the striker was unable to speak to the media following the United States’ World Cup last-32 triumph over Bosnia and Herzegovina, where he opened the scoring in a commanding 2-0 win but was sent off after receiving a red card in the second half.

Ukraine has authorized the export of fully assembled combat drones for the first time, and the first shipment has gone to the United States. The State Service for Export Control issued the permit on 1 July for a batch of F10 strike drones built by the Ukrainian manufacturer F-Drones for the US military, Interfax-Ukraine reported.

"The permit is working — the drones have already crossed the state border," a company representative said.

The Ukrainian defense outlet Defender Media first broke the story.

The shipment inverts the arrangement that has defined Russia's war on Ukraine: for more than four years the West armed Ukraine, and Ukrainian law required defense firms to send their entire output to the front. Now a Ukrainian company is supplying combat-tested strike drones to the Pentagon — and it did so while the government-to-government drone deal Kyiv wants with Washington remains stuck. What made the F10 sellable is what US industry lacks: a cheap attack drone proven against Russian armor and built without Chinese components, which disqualify most commercial quadcopters from US military use.

A first for Ukraine's export controls

F-Drones says this is the first time Kyiv has cleared finished Ukrainian-made drones for export rather than individual technologies or components. The company completed the approval through the existing interagency export-control process, and — it noted — secured the permit before new government rules simplifying military exports took effect. The state arms trader SpetsTechnoExport handled the procedure.

How the F10 reached the Pentagon

The F10 is an FPV strike quadcopter carrying an explosive warhead, developed and refined under fire since F-Drones was founded in 2023. Its contract runs through the US Department of Defense's Drone Dominance program, a roughly $1 billion effort to buy more than 200,000 low-cost attack drones by 2027. At the program's first trials — Gauntlet I, held at Fort Benning, Georgia, in early 2026 — the F10 scored 72.9 out of 100, placing sixth among 25 vendors and landing among 11 winners with a prototype order for 2,000 drones, Defender Media reported. The company's US arm, Ukrainian Defense Drones, announced on 29 June that it will build its first American factory in Holland, Ohio, an $18.4 million plant expected to create at least 300 jobs. A second Drone Dominance phase opens in August, with 48 companies competing for orders of 60,000 drones.

Ukraine opens the door to arms exports

The permit landed as Ukraine formally opened defense-technology exports to partner countries. Under the framework announced by the Defense Ministry on 1 July, states with intergovernmental "Drone Deal" agreements can buy directly from Ukrainian producers; the Foreign Ministry sets the list of eligible countries, and the Defense Ministry the list of critical items barred from sale. Producers may apply to export arms worth 15 million hryvnia (about $360,000) or more, with intellectual-property rights retained in Ukraine and re-export allowed only with Kyiv's written consent. Where products made with Ukrainian technology are exported onward, 20% of their value goes to the state budget. F-Drones chief executive Stas Khutor framed exports not as diverting from the front but as a way to scale production and strengthen the military. The ministry says the armed forces' needs stay the priority: a firm can export only if it can guarantee its state contract and its export order at the same time.