World Cup 2026 Monday takeaways: Spain advances, USMNT bounced, and Ronaldo's underwhelming run

In a tournament that's seen plenty of dynamic action, Spain-Portugal was tepid by comparison. La Roja has yet to concede a goal through five matches, so the conservative approach was sensible. But Spain will likely need a more inspired, attacking performance to claim the nation's second World Cup.

Cristiano Ronaldo's swan song

With Portugal's run over, so, too, is Cristiano Ronaldo's World Cup career. The five-time Ballon d'Or winner was visibly emotional after the match, which marked an underwhelming end.

As Fotmob noted at the start of the second half, Ronaldo had generated just 12 touches at that juncture of the match and did little with opportunities when granted, including killing the momentum by sending the ball back out instead of pushing the attack during one sequence in the 44th minute.

Rather than go out with a bang, Ronaldo's historic World Cup career ended in a whimper.

USMNT crashes out in Seattle

A magical USMNT World Cup run came to a crashing halt in the Round of 16 with a 4-1 loss to Belgium. The Red Devils struck early on a goal that exemplified an underwhelming U.S. performance. In the ninth minute and the ball in the U.S. box, Alex Freeman floated a header into a sea of teammates, but Belgium midfielder Nicolas Raskin got to the ball, dribbled and passed to striker Charles De Ketelaere, who notched the first of his two goals.

It was the first time in the entire tournament the stage appeared to be too big.

De Ketelaere's second goal was even more demoralizing, coming after Malik Tillman's second free kick goal of the knockout round and with De Ketelaere making a superior play over Tim Ream on the header.

The Stars and Stripes needed time to find its footing, both figuratively and literally, with goalie Matt Freese's cleat getting caught on the turf during a brutal second-half gaffe that led to Belgium's third goal.

But even when the team created better chances for itself late, it couldn't cut into the lead to give fans an extra boost.

The result is an important reminder of where the USMNT stands. While the 2026 World Cup was an undeniable leap forward for the program, a significant gap still exists between it and the game's elite. But as disappointing as the ending was, the U.S. can turn into a positive by using it as fuel to go even further in 2030.