NEW YORK, July 30 -- The margin was 4-1. Belgium took apart the host nation with the kind of efficiency that doesn't flatter the loser, and the stadium that had roared through a tournament-first knockout win against Bosnia-Herzegovina a week earlier went quiet in the same round where American men's soccer has stopped, or been stopped, five times in seven tournaments. The ceiling held. The question hanging over U.S. Soccer since that result was the same one that follows every Round of 16 exit: does the coach who got them there get to keep trying to break it?

The answer appears to be yes. Yahoo Sports reported Tuesday that the United States Soccer Federation is in advanced negotiations with Mauricio Pochettino on a four-year contract exten...