Belgium ends USMNT World Cup run with 4-1 rout

Belgium struck in the ninth minute through Charles De Ketelaere and never let the United States recover, rolling to a 4-1 Round of 16 win in Seattle after Malik Tillman briefly answered in the 31st minute. De Ketelaere scored again two minutes later, Hans Vanaken made it 3-1 in the 57th minute and Romelu Lukaku added the fourth in stoppage time, while Belgium finished with a 2.15 to 0.67 edge in expected goals.

Belgium opened with six shots in the first 11 minutes, forcing Mauricio Pochettino’s side to spend most of the night defending, and the U.S. did not create its first shot until Tillman’s free kick tied the match. The Americans struggled to control possession, which left Christian Pulisic, Folarin Balogun and the rest of the attack working from a shallow platform instead of a stable buildup.

Matt Freese misread the sequence on the opening goal, then drifted out of position on De Ketelaere’s second before losing the ball in the buildup to Vanaken’s finish. Later, Chris Richards’ attempt to dribble out of trouble fed Belgium’s press and led directly to Lukaku’s goal, while Pulisic left in the 59th minute with a right foot injury after trying to play on through pain.

Belgium had already eliminated the United States 2-1 in extra time on July 1, 2014, at Arena Fonte Nova in Salvador, where Kevin De Bruyne scored in the 93rd minute, Lukaku in the 104th and Julian Green answered in the 106th, and Tim Howard set the World Cup record with 16 saves. This loss sent the U.S. out of the round of 16 for the fourth time in the last five World Cups, and it pushed Belgium on to a quarterfinal against Spain.