Фоларин Балогуныг тоглолтод оролцуулах шийдвэрийг эсэргүүцсэн Бельгийн шигшээ баг талбай дээр гайхалтай тоглолт үзүүлж, АНУ-ыг илт давуу хожлоо.
Тоглолтын өмнө АНУ-ын ерөнхийлөгч Дональд Трамп болон төрийн нарийн бичгийн дарга Марко Рубио нарын хэлсэн үг Бельгийн тоглогчдын уур хилэнг бадраасан юм. Үүний хариуд Бельгийн сошиал медиа баг “Үүнийг хүчингүй болгоод үзээрэй” хэмээн хатуухан мэдэгдсэн бол талбай дээр тоглогчид нь сэтгэл зүйн хувьд бэлэн байгаагаа харууллаа. Николас Раскины дамжуулалтаар Чарльз Де Кетеларе тоглолтын эхэнд гоол оруулж, Бельгийн давамйллыг эхлүүлсэн юм.
Дасгалжуулагч Руди Гарсия багийн ахмад тоглогч Кевин Де Брюйнийг сэлгээнд үлдээж, зоригтой шийдвэр гаргасан нь үр дүнгээ өглөө. Чарльз Де Кетеларе хоёр гоол оруулж, Ромелу Лукаку тоглолтын төгсгөлд дөрөв дэх гоолыг хийснээр багийн ялалтыг баталгаажуулсан юм. Хаалгач Тибо Куртуа өрсөлдөгч багийнханд хандан шүүмжлэлтэй хандсан бол Юри Тилеманс энэхүү ялалт нь багийнхны хувьд онцгой ач холбогдолтой байсныг онцоллоо.
Сенегалын эсрэг тоглолтод хожигдож явсан Бельги сүүлийн хоёр тоглолтод долоон гоол оруулж, гайхалтай эргэн ирэлт хийгээд байна. Харин АНУ-ын хувьд талбайн эзэн орны давуу талыг ашиглаж чадалгүй, шийдвэрлэх мөчид алдаа гаргаснаар тэмцээнээс хасагдлаа. Бельги ийнхүү шүүмжлэл, дарамтыг үл ажран, талбай дээрх тоглолтоор бүхнийг нотлон харуулав.
Дэлгэрэнгүй эх сурвалжийг харах
Эх сурвалжийг нээх ↓
“Overturn this.”
With two words Belgium’s social media team, Belgium’s football team and basically the entire nation of Belgium collectively dropped a supersized mic on the United States. It was the zinger of the World Cup. American fries were drowned with creamy Belgian mayonnaise.
The United States is a pretty big country — around 320 times the size of Belgium. FIFA is a fairly sizeable, important organisation, too. And the guy who is leader of the free world, President Donald Trump? Well, he’s quite influential. So it must have felt like the weight of the world was bearing down on Belgium’s players and their embattled coach Rudi Garcia as they unwittingly found themselves at the epicentre of one of the most controversial decisions in the long history of the World Cup (and there have been a few).
President Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio were even telling Belgium what to think about Folarin Balogun’s reinstatement to the USMNT side.“We’re going to have a full team and Belgium is going to have a full team,” Trump said. “And you know what? If they beat us, then they can be really proud. The other way, if they beat us, we’ll say it was… I’d say it was rigged, just like the election was rigged in 2020, but I won’t get into that.”
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Secretary of State Rubio chimed in: “If you’re Belgium, why would you want to play a game and win a match, and then you win this match, and then everyone will argue you didn’t really win it because their best player, leading scorer, was not there during the match?”
Belgium aren’t involved in international incidents often.
Belgium’s Charles De Ketelaere celebrates as the USMNT lick their wounds (Dirk Waem/Belga Mag/AFP via Getty Images)
How did they respond? Did they cower under the expectation of a country whose population dwarfs their own by 330million? Nope. The exact opposite. They came prepared with a game plan, ruthlessly enacted it in devastatingly clinical fashion, and broke the hearts of a nation one goal at a time.
Revenge? Absolutely.
“Of course, that motivated the group,” Nicolas Raskin, who set up the early opening goal for Charles De Ketelaere, told reporters post-match. “It was an injustice that made for a special build-up. That makes winning this match extra special.”
Dodi Lukebakio added: “We didn’t quite understand why he was allowed to play this time. But we wanted to focus on our game. We did that, so we are proud. What else could we have done? Cry? If he was allowed to play, he was allowed to play. Ultimately, we had to answer on the pitch.”
Real Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois seemed personally irked.
“The lack of respect we’ve received in the last few days…,” he said. “That the U.S. would beat us easily, that we aren’t a good team anymore.”
And on the Balogun saga being extra motivation? “Not necessarily. I just laugh about it. I understand they want to hype up America. I felt more confident than against Senegal, because they had a better team.”
Thibaut Courtois had been riled by some of the pre-match assumptions that Belgium would wilt (Alex Grimm/Getty Images)
Belgium were heading out of the World Cup against Senegal, 2-0 down with 86 minutes on the clock. Since then? Seven goals in 124 minutes and a surprise run to the quarter-finals.
Everyone expected the flickering embers of Belgium’s golden generation to die out at this World Cup, but no one anticipated it would happen during the tournament.Kevin De Bruyne, the Champions League and multiple Premier League winner, third in the Ballon d’Or in 2022 and possibly the greatest Belgian footballer of all time, was an unused substitute in Seattle. His services were not required.
“We didn’t need Kevin,” said Garcia bluntly of the 35-year-old, whose previous 37 appearances for Belgium have all been starts. His last bench appearance was back in 2021.
Rudi Garcia was rewarded for his bold decisions (Bruno Fahy/ Belga Mag/AFP via Getty Images)
With Romelu Lukaku continuing his super-sub role and even Jeremy Doku reduced to a cameo off the bench, with Garcia rewarding those who inspired the Senegal comeback with starting places, this was an unfamiliar Belgium team. But they looked all the better for it.
Atalanta’s De Ketelaere scored his first goals of the tournament, dispatching two from close range, while the metronomic Youri Tielemens was excellent in a slightly more advanced midfield role.
Nathan Ngoy, of Lille, and Club Brugge’s Brandon Mechele were flawless in central defence, and the whole team were fast, sharp, energetic and slick, defending as a team and attacking as one too. It was all in stark contrast to the hesitant, dithering, error-prone hosts who, frankly, lost their bottle.
Garcia was bold, in his starting XI and his changes, just as he had been against Senegal. The contrast with one of his predecessors, Roberto Martinez — who maddeningly stuck to Plan A and saw Portugal limp out of the tournament with a whimper a few hours earlier in the day — was not lost on Belgium’s followers.
Without the talismanic but ageing De Bruyne, they looked free. “If you had told me I would do this (drop De Bruyne) before the tournament started, even I wouldn’t have believed it,” Garcia said in his pre-match interview.“That’s how the tournament goes. It’s about how everyone’s form evolves and especially those who emerge.”
Still, while the plan worked perfectly, a little bit of extra motivation did not do any harm.
Overturn this. 🧏♂️ #USABEL pic.twitter.com/KcBAJp3Z7d
— Belgian Red Devils (@BelRedDevils) July 7, 2026
A statesmanlike Garcia played it down — “It wasn’t needed or necessary,” he said of the extra fire in Belgian bellies — but Tielemens gave the game away.
“Let’s be honest: we held a meeting when we heard the news,” he revealed.“We told ourselves we needed to do our talking on the pitch. That’s what we did today. I’m very proud of the team.”
As Lukaku cupped his ears, suggested there had been too much talk and then the whole squad wildly celebrated his rout-completing fourth goal, it confirmed the Balogun episode had probably only benefited one nation. The little one.
