The unintended consequence of Donald Trump’s bid to put USA first was that it roused Belgium. “We told ourselves we needed to do our talking on the pitch,” said Belgium captain Youri Tielemans. For midfielder Nicolas Raskin, the 4-1 win meant that justice was delayed, not denied.
His red card suspension suspended, Folarin Balogun, the man at the centre of the controversy he had no role in creating, was a peripheral figure in Seattle on Monday. A dummy he tried that had the USA losing possession summed up his night.
A first quarter-final since 2002 remained out of reach as USA ended on the other side of a scoreline they had begun the tournament with. And it wasn’t just Belgium that celebrated.
In a biting official statement, an Iran Football Federation spokesperson declared: “Now the whole world is dancing to celebrate politics’ humiliating defeat by football.”
California Democratic Sen. Alex Padilla, on X, branded the whole affair as the latest example of “the Trump effect” in action: “He’s like the reverse Midas touch – everything he touches turns to… you know what.”
England coach Thomas Tuchel wondered whether yellow cards to English defender Declan Rice and French midfielder Michael Olise could be reversed, and then the memes took over.
The Belgian players appeared to mock the US president’s signature dance at full time but no one else held back either. The Trump effect is also uniting the world against USA in a strange way.
Beyond the politics, the real story of the match is that it might be the start of something new at Belgium.
When Romelu Lukaku held up the injured Amadou Onana’s No. 24 shirt after scoring, it connected two generations involved in rebuilding. Lukaku, Axel Witsel, Hans Vanaken, Thibaut Courtois, Thomas Meunier and Kevin de Bruyne are part of the old guard, remnants of a group who made Belgium the world’s No. 1 team from 2018 to 2022 and from November 2015 to March 2016. Leandro Trossard, Onana, Dodi Lukebakio, Raskin, Diego Moreira and Charles de Ketelaere are the young ones who have joined them to revive Belgium’s campaign in the World Cup that, at 85 minutes against Senegal, had looked all but over.
Spain await in the quarter-finals and the European champions may end Belgium’s run on Friday (Saturday in India). Or will they be like Italy of 1982, getting better as they went deeper? Even if they don’t this could be like starting over, like Didier Deschamps had said of France after losing to Germany in the quarter-final in 2014.
Over 66,000 chanted “USA, USA” but Belgium began brightly. Timothy Castagne tested Matt Freese early before de Ketelaere and Tielemans – the bridge between generations – kept the USA goalie busy.
With early goals against Paraguay, Australia and Turkiye and one in the first half in the round of 32, USA have been off to fast starts. All of Belgium’s goals had come in the second half, one with almost the last kick in extra-time.
The script flipped this time. Belgium pinned the home team in their half and forged ahead through de Ketelaere after Raskin had done well to find him under pressure. Against the run of play, Malik Tillman’s 31st minute free kick took a wicked deflection off Vanaken and denied Courtois a clean sheet in his 20th finals game (only Manuel Neuer has more among keepers), but Belgium restored the lead in two minutes.
Like he had found Tielemans for the equaliser against Senegal, Trossard picked out de Ketelaere with a cross and he soared above USA’s Tim Ream to score. Hooked off at half-time for being ineffective as Belgium chased the match against Senegal, coach Rudi Garcia started with the tall frontman possibly because Lukaku barely had game time last season. Or because he wanted to give the 25-year-old confidence. After two goals in his first 25 games, de Ketelaere now has six in his last nine.
Freese’s freeze gifted Belgium the third goal, the keeper losing possession to de Ketelaere before Vanaken shot home. “We never connected with the game. Belgium were better than us, and that’s it,” said USA coach Mauricio Pochettino.
USA’s worst defeat in a World Cup since the 1-5 loss to Czechoslovakia in 1990 came in a campaign where they scored the most goals and notched up the most wins.
Garcia’s substitutions against Senegal were like magic and in this match he started without Jeremy Doku and De Bruyne, preferring Raskin and Lukebakio. And it worked beautifully. From the left, with Trossard doing what he does for Arsenal, and from the middle and from the right, Belgium swarmed USA. The co-hosts threw in Geo Reyna and Sebastian Berhalter in the second half but the match was over as a contest after Vanaken’s 57th minute goal.
At 90+3, Lukaku got his third of this World Cup and 93rd for Belgium. Unbeaten in 18 matches, Belgium posted a photograph on the team’s Instagram page of Lukaku celebrating his goal with a two-word message: “Overturn this.”
