Donald Trump tried, the crowd did too Seattle swaying to “USA, USA” chants, but it wasn’t enough. His red card suspension suspended, Folarin Balogun was a peripheral figure, the striker’s night summed up by a late dummy that ended up with USA losing possession. As the last of the hosts left the 2026 World Cup, we may have seen the start of something new at Belgium.
When Romelu Lukaku held up the injured Amadou Onana’s No. 24 shirt after making it 4-1, it connected two generations joined in rebuilding. Lukaku, Axel Witsel, another late substitute in the easy round-of- 16 win against USA on Monday (Tuesday morning IST), 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, Nicolas Raskin, Diego Moreira and Charles de Ketelaere are the young ones who have blended with 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 well end Belgium’s run on Friday (Saturday in India). But as Didier Deschamps said of France after losing to Germany at the Maracana in the 2014 World Cup, this could be a fresh beginning.
Late to the races against Senegal, Belgium made amends against the last home team remaining after defeats to Canada and Mexico. Timothy Castagne tested Matt Freese early before de Ketelaere and Youri Tielemans – the bridge between generations and their captain – kept him 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 eight goals had come in the second half, one with almost the last kick in extra-time.
The script changed early. Belgium penned the home team in their half and forged ahead through de Ketelaere. Under pressure, Raskin had done well to find him. 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 soon after. In two minutes, to be precise.
Like he had found Tielemans for the equaliser against Senegal, Trossard picked out de Ketelaere with a cross and from between USA’s Tim Ream and Antonee Robinson, the Belgian rose the tallest to score. Hooked off at half-time for being ineffective as Belgium chased the match in the round of 32, coach Rudi Garcia persisted 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.
A tennis player as a boy, de Ketelaere showed early promise at Club Brugge leading to a big ticket transfer to AC Milan which didn’t work. It was under Gian Piero Gasperini that the striker with a good left foot and aerial prowess settled into life in Serie A. Gasperini has left but de Ketelaere will be in his third season at Atalanta, now under Maurizio Sarri.
A Freese freeze gifted Belgium the third goal, the keeper losing possession to de Ketelaere before Vanaken shot home from range. The crowd, Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vedder and Amazon head Jeff Bezos among them, did its best to rouse the home team but USA were clearly a step behind in terms of quality and intensity.
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, through Trossard doing what he does regularly for Arsenal, from the middle and from the right, Belgium swarmed USA. They had 11 attempts in the first half. USA 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.
Lukaku rounded off the night with his third of this World Cup. A season where he could play only 64 minutes at Napoli due to injury is ending better than he expected. He fired home after Chris Richards lost the ball, the goal encapsulating how USA’s last match went in a campaign where they have notched up the most wins and scored the most goals.
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