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The football world is collectively rejoicing after the USA was handed a brutal reality check on Tuesday morning AEST, knocked out of the World Cup after suffering a humbling 4-1 loss to Belgium in Seattle.
Having been at the centre of one of the biggest scandals in tournament history after US President Donald Trump appeared to stunningly convince FIFA head Gianni Infantino to have Folarin Balogun’s suspension for the round of 16 match suspended, the furious Belgians, whose own appeal deaf ears, proved utterly without mercy on the pitch.
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Charle De Ketelaere’s first-half double – the second coming just 116 seconds after Malik Tillman scored the Americans’ only goal – proved decisive, but disaster truly arrived when goalkeeper Matt Freese’s horror brain fade gifted Hans Vanaken the easiest of goals for 3-1.
The embarrassment was completed by an injury-time strike from super sub Romelu Lukaku to ensure Belgium’s progression in the sweetest possible way.
They weren’t shy about sinking the boots in, either, celebrating Lukaku’s goal with the famous ‘Trump dance’ in the corner.
The US President had added to the controversy by claiming pre-match that, in the event of an American loss, he would ‘say it was rigged, just like the election was rigged in 2020’.
Having embraced the team through their table-topping group stage, the USA fans and pundits couldn’t have been quicker to turn on their team, either.
“We’re never gonna actually be good at this sport as long as our D tier athletes play it. What a clown show,” wrote Barstool Sports president Dave Portnoy on X.
There was little credit for the superior Belgians, either, with golf reporter Dan Rapaport writing after the first half : “I can accept the USMNT being outclassed by a clearly superior opponent. But that’s not what this has been. We’re being out-fought and outrun.”
Portnoy added: “As a proud American let me be the first to congratulate Belgium. You guys were the far superior team. Granted I can’t tell if you guys are any good cause we are so pathetic but you beat us fair and square.
“Now in hindsight doesn’t all the bellyaching about Balogun playing seem silly?”
Freese, who graduated from the prestigious Harvard University in 2022, wasn’t spared by his own fans, either, with his second-half howler ensuring his status as public enemy number one.
“That’s the most pathetic goaltending and defending I have ever seen in the World Cup. Embarrassing,” wrote conservative analyst Clay Travis, while Barstool Sports writer Jack Mac used the 27-year old’s college credentials against him.
“Goalie that went to Harvard makes 800 SAT mistake,” Mac posted on X.
Attention quickly turned to whether Trump’s intervention to free Balogun had backfired on the team, with the star striker looking disconsolate after being subbed out in the 91st minute, having had minimal influence on the match.
“Now you will hear the global outcry that justice prevailed on the pitch 4-1 vs the big bad bully US. I will agree that Balogun’s unprecedented reinstatement motivated Belgium far more than it helped us,” wrote controversial pundit Skip Bayless.
“It’s certainly possible Team USA would have been better off tonight fighting for their lives as the “hopeless underdog” without Balogun.”
Journalist Emily Austin wrote: “Team USA is so bad right now Trump could sign an executive order, deploy the National Guard, call FIFA, rename soccer to football… and we’d still find a way to screw this up.”
EXPLAINED: Trump’s red card intervention | 05:04
Former USA striker Charlie Davies, meanwhile, lamented a golden opportunity to reach the quarter-finals of a men’s World Cup for the first time since 2002 squandered.
“It was the moment that we all were hoping for, that I feel like this country needed in regards to loving and embracing this sport,” Davies said on CBS Sports Golazo.
“They had that right in front of them, and they didn’t come out with that spark that we had seen them come out with in all the other games they played in this World Cup.
“I don’t know if it was nerves, I don’t know if it was a sense of ‘Okay, we’ve made it’. Belgium were a beatable side, from what we’ve seen.
“It’s almost as if the whole decision with FIFA to suspend the red card from Balogun and allow him to play … you’re saying ‘hey, it’s us against the world’. It almost empowered them.”
Around the world, the reaction was more jovial, with fury over Balogun’s overturned suspension giving way to giddy schadenfreude.
“Poetic justice,” said SBS host Niav Owens.
It was left to Belgium’s social media account to close the door in brutal fashion, posting an image of Lukaku celebrating his final goal with the caption “Overturn this.”
“Everyone saw from the beginning that we did not connect with the game. We were never in the game. Even when we scored, we scored the goal for 1-1, we conceded in the next action. It was really tough from the beginning,” United States boss Mauricio Pochettino said at full time.
“Congratulations to Belgium, they were better than us. It wasn’t our day. It’s not to find excuses or not to find arguments because we didn’t show normally the team can show and that is the reality.
“We need to learn. It is a process to learn and assess the game and understand why we did not approach the game in the same way as the rest of the World Cup. Different reasons, maybe the explanation is so easy, it wasn’t our day collectively or individually. The principal person responsible is myself. We need to assess and see, it was not the performance or way we normally play.”
