Belgium ends the USA’s World Cup dream with a dominant 4-1 win in the Round of 16
• Belgium ends the USA’s dream: The summer of soccer love is over for the USA’s World Cup squad after losing 4-1 to Belgium, and many US players were in tears after the final whistle. Two early goals from Charles De Ketelaere and some awful US defending allowed a third from Hans Vanaken. Romelu Lukaku added the final goal in the last seconds.
• Agonizing defeat: Added to the embarrassment was the fact that much of the world will take joy in the US’ humiliation after the controversy over FIFA’s decision to suspend Folarin Balogun’s one-game ban following a red card in the Round of 32.
• Trump’s role: President Donald Trump said he had asked FIFA president Gianni Infantino to review Balogun’s red card, sparking accusations of the US president interfering in the tournament.
• What’s next: Belgium will advance to the quarterfinals and face Spain, who beat Portugal earlier today.
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Scroll through the posts below for a breakdown and analysis of the USA’s 4-1 loss to Belgium in the Round of 16 at the 2026 World Cup.
After days of anticipation and debate surrounding the USA’s Round of 16 matchup against Belgium – and a frantic past 24 hours as FIFA controversially ruled that American striker Folarin Balogun could play despite receiving a red card in USA’s Round of 32 game – the Red Devils proved to be the dominant force on the pitch.
From the opening kickoff, Belgium had the Americans on the back foot, and only a fabulous save from USA goalkeeper Matt Freese kept Belgium from going ahead in the first minute of the game. The respite proved to be short-lived as Belgium continued its onslaught and eventually found the net in the 9th minute off the foot of Charles De Ketelaere after the US defense failed to clear the ball out of the box.
Belgium continued to look dangerous and the US just looked dazed as the first half continued. After the first hydration break, the Americans seemed to settle into the game and the partisan crowd at Lumen Field in Seattle began to will them back into the contest.
Lightning struck for the US in the 31st minute after Balogun earned a free kick for the Stars and Stripes just outside the 18-yard box. Tillman stepped up to the moment and, just as he did in the last game against Bosnia & Herzegovina, he buried the ball in the back of the net to tie the game at 1-1.
The jubilation in Seattle lasted less than 2 minutes as Belgium brought the thunder in the form of another goal, this time off the head of De Ketelaere.
The US continued to threaten for the rest of the first half, and after the intermission, the Americans came out much more lively than they were to start the game. USA manager Mauricio Pochettino’s lone halftime move was to bring in dynamic attacking player Gio Reyna, who has shown the skill to drive opposing defenses mad.
The run of play seemed to be favoring the USA until disaster struck in the 57th minute. Freese came out of the box to play a ball off his chest. He side-stepped a charging De Ketelaere, but then misplayed the ball horribly, allowing the Belgian forward to poke the ball away to his teammate Hans Vanaken, who had no trouble putting it into the empty goal.
Compounding the USA’s woes, play-making midfielder Christian Pulisic was subbed out of the game minutes later due to injury on a play where the American team and its fans felt as though he’d been fouled.
As the second half hydration break arrived, the USA remained unable to crack the Belgian defense despite enjoying plenty of possession. The European giants - ranked No. 9 in the world - refused to flinch in the final third, and all of that USA possession didn’t equate to scoring chances.
And Belgium had weapons waiting in reserve. Belgian boss Rudi Garcia, perhaps looking to make a statement after FIFA’s handling of the Balogun red card incident, unleashed a pair of super subs in the form of Manchester City’s attacking midfielder Jérémy Doku and Napoli striker Romelu Lukaku.
As the clock became the US’ fiercest enemy, Balogun, who has spent the past few days under the microscope, had a moment to shine as he brought down a long pass on the run and found himself in a 1 v. 1 with Belgian goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois. Balogun struck the ball well with his left foot, but Courtois was able to get enough of the ball to push it away and stymie another US scoring attempt.
The Red Devils put an exclamation point on a decisive win in second half stoppage time as Lukaku powered the ball past a diving Freese to the far post for Belgium’s fourth goal of the night, cementing a 4-1 win and a date with European powerhouse Spain in the quarterfinals on Friday at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California.
With the USA’s exit, each of the tournament co-hosts – Canada, Mexico and the US – have exited the World Cup in the Round of 16.
A lot of neutral observers will see this result as justice after two days of headlines alleging US President Donald Trump interfered in the sporting process around Folarin Balogun’s red card.
Belgian coach Rudi Garcia positioned his team as defending the entire sport against Trump and FIFA president Gianni Infantino on Sunday and set his team up to embarrass the USA. He didn’t play three of his best players – Romelu Lukaku and Jérémy Doku only entered when it was already 3-1 and Kevin De Bruyne never even came in – and instead organized his team to frustrate the US’ patented press.
It was clear that he wanted to prove a point after Trump grabbed the headlines earlier in the day by detailing his efforts to get FIFA to examine Balogun’s red card against Bosnia and Herzegovina.
His point was proved. His team’s account on X rammed the message home, simply posting: “Overturn this.”
Overturn this. 🧏♂️ #USABEL pic.twitter.com/KcBAJp3Z7d
— Belgian Red Devils (@BelRedDevils) July 7, 2026
The tournament will go on without the USA (or the other two co-hosts, which all went out at the Round of 16 stage), and FIFA can breathe a slight sigh of relief. There will be no questions around a deep run in the tournament for the USA, no asterisks around possible success for the US.
Instead, much of the rest of the soccer world will likely feel vindication – and more than a little bit of satisfaction at American humiliation on such a huge stage.
FIFA’s obscure processes could restore the US’ best attacker into the lineup, but no amount of involvement from President Donald Trump, his administration, FIFA or anyone else could fix the team’s biggest weakness.
The American defense has been leaky and suspect for months, a fact conveniently forgotten as the USA attack flowed freely early in the tournament. There were warning signs blinking about the quality of the defenders for weeks and on Monday those prophecies were fulfilled.
Starting from their penultimate World Cup warm up against Senegal, it was clear the USA was going to struggle to keep the ball out of their own net. Clean sheets against an Australian team that barely attacked and a Bosnia and Herzegovina team that lacked punch going forward papered over huge problems in the defensive line.
Captain Tim Ream, who was beaten in the air for Belgium’s second goal that robbed the US of momentum after Malik Tillman had just equalized, was not exactly in the side for his current level of skill. The 38-year-old is a leader and an experienced player who was meant to keep the young players around him calm and composed. But when faced with Charles De Ketelaere, Ream couldn’t hang.
The Belgian forward escaped behind Ream for the first goal, finishing into an open net on a cross brought about because Ream’s teammates failed to deal with a ball dropping in the box. And for the second US goal, De Ketelaere outmuscled the American captain and outjumped him to head the ball past Matt Freese.
It was the goalkeeper whose critical mistake in the second half essentially killed the game for the USA. His charge out of the box to deal with a Belgian long ball was decisive, until it wasn’t. He got to the ball first and then simply stopped himself as he went to clear it.
De Ketelaere again pressured Freese, deflecting the ball back to Hans Vanaken who had an open net to shoot at.
The USA got a favorable decision from FIFA and some will say they got a lot of help in Balogun being able to play. No amount of help could fix the Achilles heel of this team, and it came to the fore on Monday.
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USA captain Tim Ream said that it would take a couple of days for the emotions of the loss to subside enough that he is able to consider what could have or should have been done differently from a tactical perspective.
“I don’t have a whole lot of answers for any tactical analysis at the moment,” Ream said to reporters in the mixed zone.
Like Adams, he denied that any of the noise surrounding Folarin Balogun affected their performance on the field.
“No it had no impact. Outside noise, we’ve done a good job in this group of allowing outside noise to be outside noise,” Ream said. “We were fully focused on on us as a group and as a team, and fully focused on the game, and not really worrying about what was what was being said or debated in the outside world.”
He also talked about the hope that this World Cup would meaningfully alter how Americans view soccer. A hope that has now been cut short.
“The further you go, the more people are going to pay attention,” Ream said. “We knew what kind of impact we would be able to have, as long as we played well, and the performances were there, and we were winning games. Obviously that all comes to a halt now.”
Part of hope was to create a new generation of soccer fans and players by capturing the attention and imagination of kids in the country. Ream said that there’s no reason for that conversation to die down completely. Instead, they must consider, “How can we continue to inspire them now the tournament is over?”
Of course, the World Cup isn’t actually over. But it is for the USA.
Talking to reporters in the mixed zone after the 4-1 defeat, the USA’s Tyler Adams was unsparing in his evaluation of the US team’s shortcomings in this match.
“There was a lot of things that we could have done better,” he said. “When you concede goals that easily against a team of that quality and that caliber, it’s going to be difficult.”
He continued: “Belgium deserved to win the game clearly today, but I don’t think it was the opponent, the speed of the game, the moment, I don’t think any of that. I think it’s just small details of the game that got away from us.”
Asked specifically if the controversy surrounding Folarin Balogun’s suspended red card had any impact, Adams said he didn’t even know there was an appeal, and that the team found out Balogun would be allowed to play via the news breaking while on the bus to training.
“I don’t think that noise or anything affected us, by any means,” Adams said. “If anything, it probably uplifted us.”
As for Balogun barely factoring in the loss, “Was anyone a major presence on the field today?” Adams said of his team.
Ultimately, “Our initial reaction as a team was that, in this moment, we let them down,” Adams said of the support the USA has received from American fans during the World Cup.
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Media members waiting to speak with some of the players are starting to crowd the designated area – typing on phones and softly whispering to one another.
It’s a big change from when the Americans beat the Aussies here in the group stage.
There was a buzz in this stadium then. Not now.
The Red Devils are not the same team that they were in 2014 when they knocked the USA out in the Round of 16. They’re far from the team that finished third in this tournament in 2018 or went to the quarterfinals of the European Championships in 2016 and 2020.
That golden generation of players is largely gone, with just Romelu Lukaku and Kevin De Bruyne still hanging around. For the first two games of this World Cup, it seemed like the sun had truly set on Belgium’s best years after dire draws with Egypt and Iran.
But a 5-1 thrashing of New Zealand woke them up and an incredible late comeback against Senegal on Wednesday, fighting back from a 2-0 deficit with two goals in the final five minutes and then an extra time penalty winner, made it clear that Belgium is no pushover.
And now after a 4-1 thrashing of the United States, the Belgians look like a totally different side than the one that started the tournament. De Bruyne didn’t even need to get into the game on Monday and Lukaku and midfielder Jérémy Doku didn’t come on until the game was already 3-1.
After looking listless and pedestrian in June, the Red Devils look dangerous in July. They have Spain next.
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