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The World Cup ended with a thud for the United States.
The U.S. Men’s National Team suffered its first loss of the tournament and were eliminated in the knockout round, a deflating 3-1 loss to the Netherlands, Saturday in Qatar.
Gregg Berhalter’s young American squad, after failing to qualify in 2018 in Russia, fell short of earning its first quarterfinal berth since 2002 in South Korea and Japan. The Netherlands, which advanced to the quarterfinals for the third time in the past four World Cups, next will face the winner of Saturday’s Round of 16 match between Argentina and Australia.
Christian Pulisic was in the starting lineup after being taken to a local hospital during Tuesday’s 1-0 group-stage victory over Iran with a pelvic injury after scoring the Americans’ lone goal to advance as the second-place finisher with one win and two draws in Group B.
Pulisic had the match’s first glorious chance Saturday, in alone behind the Netherlands back line on an entry feed from captain Tyler Adams in the second minute of the match. But he didn’t get much on his left-footed shot about 12 yards from goal and it was kicked aside by Dutch keeper Andries Noppert.
