Add The New York Post on Google While some of American soccer’s biggest stars were trying to make sense of the U.S. men’s national team’s ugly loss to Belgium in the Round of 16, one person found some solace in the World Cup defeat.
Knicks star Josh Hart found a way to put a positive spin on the otherwise disappointing night with one simple message to USMNT fans, particularly the ones in New York.
“US lost but Knicks still Champs. Goodnight!” he posted on X.
The USMNT lost in the Round of 16. REUTERS Of course, he was referring to the Knicks’ championship that snapped a 53-year title drought for the NBA franchise, which happened right at the start of the World Cup.
The Knicks’ title run had galvanized New York City and Hart was making sure that fans remembered that in the wake of the United States’ World Cup loss.
Hart had been having some fun on social media during the match with several tongue-in-cheek comments.
“Pancakes > Belgian Waffles,” he posted at one point.
“We didn’t want to win anyways cause they would have called it rigged,” Hart later wrote on X, poking fun at the controversy that had been stirred by FIFA’s decision to allow U.S. soccer star Folarin Balogun to play despite receiving a red card in his previous match.
Josh Hart holding the Lary O’Brien trophy. NBAE via Getty Images In the end, Balogun did not play much of a factor in the loss, nor did any of the team’s big stars.
The USMNT looked tepid out of the gate and was never able to match its previous efforts during the tournament.
“We started in a poor way. We never found the flow of the game,” USMNT head coach Mauricio Pochettino said. “Even after we scored, in the next action we conceded a goal. It was a very bad day. We didn’t show the quality from previous games.
“We have to accept we weren’t good. We don’t need to find excuses.”
