Josh Hart never misses an opportunity to be Josh Hart. And after the USMNT got dumped out of the 2026 World Cup by Belgium in the Round of 16, the Knicks guard delivered exactly the kind of shrug-and-troll response that has made him one of the most quotable athletes on social media.
Belgium ran the U.S. off the pitch at Lumen Field in Seattle, winning 4-1 in front of a home crowd that expected a lot more. Hart, watching from wherever a newly minted NBA champion watches soccer, decided to give the loss his own spin.
“We didn’t want to win anyways cause they would have called it rigged,” Hart tweeted, with three shrug emojis attached for good measure.
That is peak Josh Hart energy. He is a legitimate soccer fan, so this was not some casual take from a guy who doesn’t watch the sport. It was a trolling jab, delivered by a guy whose year cannot be ruined by anything.
Because let’s be clear about where Hart is sitting right now. The Knicks just won the 2026 NBA title over the Spurs. His college program at Villanova continues to produce pros. He gets to spend the summer as an NBA champion cracking jokes about a national team that was supposed to make a run on home soil and did not.
The context around the USMNT loss makes Hart’s tweet even funnier. Folarin Balogun had his red card suspension reversed before the match, which meant the Americans had their full complement of attackers available. They still could not stay within three goals of Belgium.
So the “rigged” joke lands with a certain weight. The U.S. got every possible break heading into that match, hosted the tournament, played in front of a friendly crowd, and got smoked anyway. There is no conspiracy to complain about. Belgium was just better.
Hart understands that, which is why the tweet works. He is not actually accusing anyone of anything. He is poking fun at the reflex that some American fans have to blame officiating or bad luck whenever the national team stumbles on a big stage.
This kind of commentary from an active NBA star is exactly what sports Twitter needs. Athletes are often coached into saying nothing at all, especially about other sports they follow. Hart operates on a different frequency. He tweets like a fan, because he is one.
The USMNT will have plenty of time to answer for the Belgium loss. Coaching questions, roster questions, tactical questions, all of that is coming. But before any of that noise starts, Josh Hart got the first joke in.
And that is how you know his summer is going exactly the way he wants it to. Championship ring on the way, jokes ready to fire, and no reason to take anything too seriously. The rest of the sports world should probably follow his lead.
The USMNT has real work to do before the next major tournament. Josh Hart, on the other hand, is done working for a while. Let him cook on the timeline.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
