Belgium faces Spain in Los Angeles

By Josh Ortega

The United States Men’s National Team’s (USMNT) 2026 FIFA World Cup campaign ended with a 4-1 thrashing to Belgium Monday night at Lumen Field in Seattle in the Round of 16. The U.S. has now been eliminated in the last 16 for the fourth straight time since the 2010 World Cup. The U.S. was also the last host to be eliminated, after both Mexico and Canada had been eliminated just days earlier. USMNT Head Coach Mauricio Pochettino spoke after the loss about his side’s tentative tendencies in the match vs Belgium. 

“I think today we didn’t show our real quality like a team. I think we never connected with the demand of the game,” Pochettino said after the game. “I want to congratulate Belgium because they were good. Like I said before, it’s (Belgium) a very good team, but I think we were not at our level.” 

After his team regained its footing in the Round of 32 with a 2-0 win against Bosnia and Herzegovina, Pochettino started the game with the same starting 11 as he had put out six days ago. Belgium made multiple changes from its squad that squeezed past Senegal, advancing through a 120th minute extra goal to send Belgian Head Coach Rudi Garcia and his side through. After a solid run of form throughout the tournament for the U.S., even the betting market was believing in the team as they became favorites just before kickoff. However, Belgium showed its class and quality early in the match.

Belgium peppered the U.S. with chances early in the game, finding a breakthrough in the opening 10 minutes. In the ninth minute of play, the U.S. failed to clear a bouncing ball inside the box that was picked up by Belgian midfielder Nicolas Raskin and played across the six-yard box untouched, being put in by Belgian striker Charles De Ketelaere for the opening goal, punishing the U.S. for the early mistake. 

Both sides would continue to have chances throughout the opening half with the USMNT finding an equalizer in the 31st minute after midfielder Malik Tillman scored from a free kick just outside the Belgium 18-yard box that took a wide deflection off a defender and into the back of the net for the U.S. Tillman scored a nearly identical goal against Bosnia to cap off the victory; his efforts from the set piece helped put the stars and stripes level in the first half. 

But just as fans returned to their seats after celebrating the U.S. equalizer, Belgium, within a minute of conceding, took the lead once again through De Ketelaere. De Ketelaere headed in his second goal of the game after Belgian winger Leandro Trossard took on two U.S. defenders, finding the 6-foot 4-inch striker at the back post for his second of the night. The USMNT would head into halftime down by one goal after a rollercoaster start. 

However, even with 15 minutes to regain focus to mount a comeback, things quickly got worse for the U.S. coming out of halftime. In the 57th minute of play, disaster struck for the team as Belgium knocked a long ball from its defensive half, playing De Ketelaere in over the top of the U.S. defensive line. Goalkeeper Matt Freese ran deep to intercept the pass as the last line of defense, but as he went to clear the ball, Freese missed, allowing the Belgian offense to play it back to Belgian midfielder Hans Vanaken, who rifled in a shot from 30 yards out in an open net for Belgium’s third goal of the game. 

To make matters worse, not long after, USMNT star Christian Pulisic was subbed off after being injured in a collision with a Belgian defender.

The U.S. did continue to have chances throughout the final 20 minutes of the game to try to claw one back late in the game. However, in the final minutes of stoppage time in the 92nd minute, Belgian striker Romelu Lukaku, the country’s all-time leading goal scorer, delivered the dagger for the USMNT after yet another mistake in the defensive half. Lukaku pounced on a missed clearance by U.S. defender Chris Richards for Belgium’s fourth of the game, which was the nail in the coffin for the U.S. and the nation’s World Cup dreams.

In the lead-up to the match, there was a lot of noise surrounding U.S. striker Folarin Balogun one game suspension being rescinded in the lead-up to the match. Balogun was sent off against Bosnia and was initially ineligible to play against Belgium in the lead-up due to his red card in the last game. 

During the weekend, FIFA announced it would rescind the decision to let Balogun play and, in the lead-up to the game, U.S. President Donald Trump asked FIFA to review the decision, in which the federation altered the initial call. Belgian manager Garcia said that the decision did not alter his game plan and admired a conversation he had with Balogun before the match. 

Nonetheless, there is no way of knowing how much or how little the noise of the decision played into more motivation for Belgium in the lead-up. Pochettino did not want to add the noise of the decision as another “excuse” to the list of whys about the U.S. performance after the game. 

Belgium will travel to Los Angeles to face Spain in the Quarterfinals of the tournament on Friday while the USMNT is forced to be spectators as their tournament comes to an end.