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FP’s guide to the 2026 tournament

Folarin Balogun has gone home. The U.S. men’s national soccer team is out of the World Cup, beaten 4-1 by Belgium in the round of 16. Its star striker will be crossing his fingers that “being Baloguned” does not enter the lexicon of the sport. He may not be that lucky. The episode that now bears his name looks likely to become the thing this World Cup is remembered for—the summer the United States hosted the world and showed itself at its worst.

It did not have to be this way, and for a few weeks it wasn’t. Set aside U.S. President Donald Trump’s boorishness—exemplified by his administration’s treatment of the Iranian team—and the tournament had been making the opposite case, for the America that shows up when Washington isn’t looking.

Folarin Balogun has gone home. The U.S. men’s national soccer team is out of the World Cup, beaten 4-1 by Belgium in the round of 16. Its star striker will be crossing his fingers that “being Baloguned” does not enter the lexicon of the sport. He may not be that lucky. The episode that now bears his name looks likely to become the thing this World Cup is remembered for—the summer the United States hosted the world and showed itself at its worst.

It did not have to be this way, and for a few weeks it wasn’t. Set aside U.S. President Donald Trump’s boorishness—exemplified by his administration’s treatment of the Iranian team—and the tournament had been making the opposite case, for the America that shows up when Washington isn’t looking.

When Algeria reached its base camp in Lawrence, Kansas, hundreds of locals waited past midnight through a thunderstorm to greet the players. The university marching band learned the Algerian anthem, an artist carved the Algerian flag into a hillside, and the crowd turned the University of Kansas........

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