Belgium beat USA 4-1, advance to World Cup quarter-finals

Belgium took control from the ninth minute and never let the United States recover, turning a week of noise over Folarin Balogun into a 4-1 victory at Seattle Stadium. Charles De Ketelaere scored twice in the first half, Malik Tillman briefly answered for the USA, and Belgium sealed a quarter-final against Spain with goals from Hans Vanaken and Romelu Lukaku.

De Ketelaere struck in the 9th minute and again in the 33rd, giving Belgium an early cushion before Tillman levelled in the 31st. The response was immediate and decisive: Belgium kept finding space behind a United States defense that never settled, and Vanaken made it 3-1 in the 57th minute before Lukaku added the fourth in stoppage time, in the 90+3 minute.

The pre-match argument had centered on Balogun, who was sent off against Bosnia and Herzegovina on 1 July after the USA’s 2-0 win in the round of 32. FIFA then reversed the automatic one-match suspension before the Belgium match, drawing an appeal from the Belgian Football Association and fresh criticism over the integrity of the tournament. FIFA president Gianni Infantino acknowledged taking a call from Donald Trump before the ruling was changed, but the ruling did not decide the result in Seattle. Belgium’s composure in possession and the United States’ repeated defensive lapses did.

The loss ended the USA’s bid to reach the World Cup quarter-finals for the first time since 2002 and made the Americans the final co-host eliminated from the 2026 tournament after Canada and Mexico had already gone out. For Belgium, the win sent the team into the last eight for the fourth time and the third time in four World Cups, extending a run that had already included one of the competition’s most dramatic turnarounds, a 3-2 comeback against Senegal after trailing 2-0 late.