Celtic's World Cup is over, with all of their players now eliminated from this summer's tournament. After Alistair Johnstone was knocked out with Canada early in the Round of 16 fixtures, only fellow defender Aston Trusty remained in the competition.
USA took on Belgium, and it was always going to be a big test, given the talent the Red Devils have in their squad, and so it proved. Belgium ended up winning 4-1, knocking USMNT out of the World Cup and ending all of the hosts' participation, with USA, Mexico and Canada all eliminated at the Round of 16 phase.
USA save their worst for last
USA have been strong in this competition, putting on some really impressive displays, but they had, by far, their worst performance of the competition on Monday night.
Belgium took the lead through Charles De Ketelare and UMSNT got an equaliser thanks to a deflected Malik Tillman free-kick. Belgium then got back in front less than two minutes later with another De Ketelare goal, and they never looked back.
Rudi Garcia's men finished the game just before the hour-mark when Hans Vanaken took advantage of a huge goalkeeping mistake, and Romelu Lukaku added some gloss to the scoreline at the very end.
Celtic star Trusty, who has been more of a defensive deputy during this competition, did not get on, but he will join his teammates in packing their backs and heading home.
There was plenty of controversy coming into this fixture due to the Folarin Balogun suspension being overturned, but none of that mattered on the day. Belgium simply outclassed their hosts in Seattle, and while this looked like a step too far, Mauricio Pochettino will also know his men were capable of a much better display.
Those things happen in tournaments, and they certainly happen to nations that don't have the huge stars to call upon. As Scoland know, you need lightning to strike to go deep into a tournament as a smaller footballing nation, and you usually need to have five or six of your best performances all on the bounce.
That is a lot to ask, and Belgium now advance to the quarter-finals, where they will have to have their best game in years to defeat a very good-looking Spain side. Spain narrowly defeated Portugal on Monday night, but they were clearly the better side.
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