Belgium taunts US after World Cup rout, FIFA and Trump clash

Belgium followed its 4-1 win over the United States in Seattle with a social-media dig aimed at the bigger spectacle swirling around the match: the FIFA ruling on Folarin Balogun and the pressure that followed from Donald Trump. The post, which read “Overturn this,” turned a dominant round-of-16 result into a rebuke of the off-field noise that had framed the buildup.

The scoreline was settled by goals from Charles De Ketelaere in the 9th and 33rd minutes, Malik Tillman for the United States in the 31st, Hans Vanaken in the 57th and Romelu Lukaku in stoppage time, 90'+3. Belgium’s second straight wave of pressure after halftime exposed a U.S. side that never recovered, and the defeat sent Belgium into the quarterfinals against Spain while ending the American run on home soil.

The controversy that Belgium mocked began with Balogun’s red card in the Bosnia and Herzegovina match, a dismissal that had been set to carry a one-match suspension against Belgium. FIFA later lifted that ban after a call from Trump to FIFA president Gianni Infantino, with Trump calling the decision “brilliant.” U.S. Soccer had prepared to face Belgium without Balogun, only to have him made available after the reversal.

Infantino defended FIFA’s disciplinary process, saying the judicial bodies acted independently and autonomously. UEFA blasted the reversal as “unprecedented, incomprehensible and unjustifiable,” underscoring how a single suspension decision became a political and institutional flashpoint before kickoff. Belgium’s online jab after the final whistle made clear that its players and federation were happy to fold that dispute into the night’s humiliation.

For the United States, the loss extended a stubborn pattern: elimination in the World Cup round of 16 for the fourth straight time. The tournament is the first men’s World Cup expanded to 48 teams and 104 matches across the United States, Canada and Mexico, but the host nation again failed to turn scale and expectation into a run deeper than the first knockout round.