The United States Men’s National Team kicked off the March window Saturday afternoon as they took the field at Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium to host Belgium in friendly competition. They left Atlanta disappointed as Belgium dominated the USMNT with a 5-2 win.

Mauricio Pochettino rolled out a 4-3-3 formation. Revolution goalkeeper Matt Turner got the start in goal behind the backline of Antonee Robinson, Tim Ream, Mark McKenzie, and Tim Weah. Tanner Tessmann, Johnny Cardoso, and Malik Tillman formed the midfield three behind the attacking trio of Christian Pulisic, Weston McKennie, and Folarin Balogun.

The United States was inches away from finding the opening goal in the 17th minute. It all started with Tessmann getting on the end of a corner kick and flicking the ball to an open McKennie on the right side of the box. McKennie attempted to volley a shot to the left side of the net, but Belgium's goalkeeper stretched himself just wide enough to bat the ball away with his hand to keep the clean sheet intact.

McKenzie and Turner came up big in the 27th minute to stop Kevin De Bruyne from finding the first goal of the game. It started with De Bruyne rocketing a shot goalward that McKenzie got his head to as he deflected it downward, but sent it flying goalward. Turner was alert as he tracked the ball and tipped it over the bar before it posed a threat to the U.S. goal.

After a few good chances, the United States found the breakthrough in the 39th minute when Robinson curled a corner kick right to an open McKennie atop the six-yard box. The midfielder to the air and flicked the ball past Lammens to put the U.S. up 1-0.

Just as it looked like the United States would walk into halftime with a 1-0 lead, Zeno Debast changed that in the 45th minute when he got the end of a Turner’s clearance and drilled a ball through a sea of legs, past Turner, and into the net to score his first goal at the national team level and leveled the match at one apiece heading into halftime.

Pochettino went to the bench at halftime as Cristian Roldan replaced Cardoso.

It was another first for Belgium in the 53rd minute as Alexis Saelemaekers did a tremendous job holding up the ball inside the box and cutting it back to a darting Amadou Onana, who drilled it to the lower-left corner and in to give Belgium a 2-1 lead early in the second half.

Turner came up big in the 56th minute as he made himself big to deflect Doku’s shot. The deflected shot fell right to Thomas Meunier, who headed the ball goalward and had his header touched over the bar.

Drama ensued as the referee went to the monitor to review whether or not Meunier’s header took a deflection off Tim Ream’s arm. After a quick review, the referee confirmed the handball and awarded Belgium a penalty kick. Charles De Ketelaere stepped to the spot as he looked to extend Belgium’s lead to two. The striker curled a left-footed shot to the upper-left corner to give Belgium a 3-1 lead.

Pochettino went to the bench again in the 64th minute as Max Arfsten, Sebastian Berhalter, and Alex Freeman replaced Robinson, Weah, and Tessman.

Belgian substitute Dodi Lukébakio made an immediate impact for the Red Devils in the 68th minute as he received a pass from Meunier on the left side of the box, isolated his defender, and drove around the top of the box before unleashing a shot past Turner and into the upper-left corner as Belgium took a 4-1 lead.

Pochettino went to the bench again in the 70th minute as Gio Reyna, Ricardo Pepi, Patrick Agyemang, and Joe Scally replaced McKennie, Pulisic, Balogun, and Tillman.

As if the day couldn’t get any worse for the United States, Lukébakio got on the end of a clipped back pass and drilled the ball into the back of the net to score his second off the bench and give Belgium a 5-1 lead in the 82nd minute.

Agyemang added a consolation goal in the 87th minute when a poor pass out the back from Belgium led to Pepi sticking a foot in and dispossessing Youri Tielemans and directing the ball to an open Agyemang, who slotted it home to shrink the deficit to three.

A particularly rough day at the office for the United States, as its five-game unbeaten run came to an abrupt end. A dominant second half led to a 5-2 victory for Belgium.

Pochettino and the United States will look to overcome the woes of Saturday’s affair when the squad closes out the March window against Portugal on Tuesday inside Mercedes-Benz Stadium.