USMNT not looking past Belgium as it still seeks signature World Cup win

SEATTLE — There’s no real way to define the kind of win the U.S.national team doesn’t have, so people have settled on “signature win,” as if its three victories so far at this World Cup don’t qualify.

Maybe the better way to put it is a win as an underdog, which the USMNT hasn’t had at a World Cup since 2002.Of course, if you want to get technical, whether the U.S.is an underdog Monday against Belgium depends on where and when you’re getting odds.

Still, this Round of 16 clash would qualify, in this ill-defined manner, as the sort of win that’s never happened — against a European power, to get to a quarterfinal, with America watching in primetime.Record numbers already watched the U.S.defeat Bosnia-Herzegovina in the Round of 32; the World Cup has become the soundtrack of the semiquincentennial summer.

Another win and who knows where this could go.“It would mean a lot, and I feel like belief is already great in this country — if we do that, the belief is going to be even bigger,” Sergiño Dest said before Saturday’s training.“It’s an important game.

Belgium is a great opponent but we also see opportunities for us to win, because we’re a great team at the moment.”Indeed, one could make a convincing argument that the U.S.has been a better team at this World Cup than Belgium, which struggled through two draws to start its campaign before beating New Zealand to secure passage out of the group.

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