SEATTLE (AP) \u2014 The United States\u2019 hopes for a deep World Cup run at home ended when Charles De Ketelaere scored twice and assisted on another goal, helping Belgium expose the Americans\u2019 defensive liabilities in a 4-1 win Monday night that earned a quarterfinal berth.<\/p>\n
While the U.S. was boosted by the presence of star forward Folarin Balogun, whose one-game red-card suspension was controversially lifted by FIFA, American defenders were at fault in a pair of first-half goals and goalkeeper Matt Freese\u2019s gaffe gave the Red Devils a third early in the second half.<\/p>\n
Second-half substitute Romelu Lukaku added Belgium\u2019s final goal in the third minute of stoppage time after Chris Richards\u2019 giveaway.<\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone saw from the beginning we didn\u2019t connect with the game,\u201d said U.S. coach Mauricio Pochettino, who showed his frustration after Belgium\u2019s second goal by kicking a rack in front of the bench, sending four water bottles flying. \u201cIt\u2019s a process to learn. We need to assess that game and we need to see why we didn\u2019t approach the game in the same way that (we approached) the rest of the World Cup.\u201d<\/p>\n
Seeking its first World Cup title, Belgium knocked the U.S. out in the round of 16 for the second time in 12 years and extended its unbeaten streak to 18 games. The Red Devils play 2010 champion Spain on Friday at Inglewood, California, for a semifinal berth against France or Morocco.
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\nUnited States’ Folarin Balogun (20) and Belgium’s Brandon Mechele (4) battle for the ball during the World Cup round of 16 soccer match between the United States and Belgium in Seattle, Monday, July 6, 2026. (AP Photo\/Lindsey Wasson)
\nAfter his suspension was lifted in scrutinized move, Balogun has little impact in US World Cup loss<\/p>\n
Malik Tillman tied the score 1-1 midway through the first half with his second free kick goal of the tournament, but the Americans conceded just 61 seconds after the ensuing kickoff.<\/p>\n
American star Christian Pulisic could only watch from the bench after injuring his right foot when he hit a boot of Belgium captain Youri Tielemans on a 52nd-minute shot attempt. Pulisic favored his foot after that and was replaced seven minutes later.<\/p>\n
After winning three games in a World Cup for the first time in this expanded 48-nation tournament, the U.S. failed in its quest to reach the quarterfinals for the first time since 2002 and lost to Belgium for the seventh straight time since a victory at the initial tournament in 1930. The Americans have dropped 11 of their last 12 games against European opponents, winning only their round of 32 match against Bosnia-Herzegovina.<\/p>\n
A heralded generation led by Pulisic, Weston McKennie and Tyler Adams only partially accomplished their goal of lifting soccer\u2019s stature closer to that of the NFL, MLB and the NBA.<\/p>\n
De Ketelaere put Belgium ahead in the eighth minute, the first time in this year\u2019s World Cup the U.S. conceded first.<\/p>\n
Tillman\u2019s goal in the 31st minute energized a largely red-white-and-blue crowd of 66,925 at Lumen Field, but De Ketelaere damped that and assisted on Hans Vanaken\u2019s 57th-minute goal after Freese lost control of the ball in front of his net.<\/p>\n
All six CONCACAF nations have been eliminated, with the co-hosts U.S., Mexico and Canada falling in the round of 16. All quarterfinalists will come from Europe, Africa or South America, reinforcing the weakness of CONCACAF and Asia.<\/p>\n
Belgium, which left stars J\u00e9r\u00e9my Doku and Kevin DeBruyne on the bench, pressed from the start and exposed a defense that was regarded as the Americans\u2019 weak spot.<\/p>\n
Dodi Luk\u00e9bakio made a long diagonal pass to the opposite corner, leading to the opening goal. Leandro Troussard controlled the ball and his cross was blocked by Alex Freeman and popped into the air.<\/p>\n
Freeman headed the ball into the penalty area and Timothy Castagne charged after it and hooked a centering pass around Richards. De Ketelaere split Tim Ream and Antonee Robinson and with his right foot redirected the ball into an open net.<\/p>\n
Pochettino held out his arms, as if to ask: What was going on?<\/p>\n
Tillman scored after Brandon Mechele knocked down Balogun about 25 yards from goal. Tillman\u2019s kick deflected off Vanaken\u2019s head and deflected to the left of goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois, who had dived right.<\/p>\n
Troussard got around Sergi\u00f1o Dest for a cross and De Ketelaere outjumped Ream and headed the ball past Freese in the 33rd minute for his eighth international goal.<\/p>\n
Belgium built a two-goal lead when Mechele lofted a long ball that Freese chested after two hops. Freese hesitated with a touch, then scrambled and kicked the ball off De Ketelaere. Vanaken one-timed a shot from 35 yards that deflected in off Ream, who tried for an off-balance clearance.<\/p>\n
Lukaku entered in the 67th minute and scored his 93rd international goal.<\/p>\n
Vanaken replaced midfielder Amadou Onana midway through the first half after Onana suffered what coach Rudi Garcia feared might be a serious knee injury.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
SEATTLE (AP) \u2014 The United States\u2019 hopes for a deep World Cup run at home ended when Charles De Ketelaere scored twice and assisted on another goal, helping Belgium expose the Americans\u2019 defensive liabilities in a 4-1 win Monday night that earned a quarterfinal berth. While the U.S. was boosted by the presence of star … Continue reading Belgium beats US 4-1 to reach World Cup quarterfinals<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":65,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1452],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1521612","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports-news"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":true,"date":"2026-07-08 22:31:28","action":"change-status","newStatus":"trash","terms":[0],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1521612","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/65"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1521612"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1521612\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1521615,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1521612\/revisions\/1521615"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1521612"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1521612"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1521612"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}