The United States' World Cup dream died in Seattle on Monday night, and Belgium made absolutely sure to rub it in. The Red Devils beat the hosts 4-1, posted "Overturn this" on social media afterward, and at some point during the match, Romelu Lukaku led his teammates in a group performance of Donald Trump's signature YMCA dance. On American soil. In front of American fans. At America's World Cup.
How a Bad Night Got Worse, Fast
The US came into this match with momentum, optimism, and the freshly reinstated Folarin Balogun, their top scorer at the tournament, back in the lineup after FIFA overturned his red card from the previous round. Belgium, which had been grinding through the tournament and left Kevin De Bruyne, Jeremy Doku, and Romelu Lukaku all on the bench to start, was supposed to be vulnerable. This was supposed to be the moment.
It was not the moment. According to NBC News, Charles De Ketelaere scored twice and assisted on a third goal as the American defense fell apart at the seams. Goalkeeper Matt Freese had the kind of game that ends up in highlight reels for all the wrong reasons, losing control of the ball in the 57th minute to gift Hans Vanaken a goal that made it 3-1. Malik Tillman had briefly leveled things at 1-1 in the first half, which in retrospect just made the whole collapse feel more painful.
Lukaku came off the bench in the second half and scored in stoppage time for 4-1, his 93rd international goal. He also became the first player in World Cup history to score as a substitute in four different tournaments. The man they benched to start the game finished it by making history against you. That is a particularly specific kind of humiliation.
The Balogun Mess Hanging Over Everything
Belgium had extra fuel going into this one, and NBC News notes the Red Devils were genuinely angered by FIFA's decision to reinstate Balogun after his red card suspension. Whether that anger translated directly into performance or whether the US just played badly is hard to separate, but the mood on the American side was visibly off.
Coach Mauricio Pochettino said after the match, "Today, we were not the same team in the tournament that showed our quality." That is the most diplomatically useless sentence a manager can possibly say after a 4-1 defeat at home. It is technically true and explains absolutely nothing. The US played like a team carrying something heavy into the stadium, and Belgium played like a team that had a point to prove.
Balogun's return was supposed to be the boost that pushed the US into its first quarterfinals since the Landon Donovan squad of 2002. Instead, Belgium, even shorthanded at the start, won going away. The reinstatement controversy did not cost the US this game on its own, but it did not help.
The Trolling Was Immediate and Extremely Online
Belgium did not quietly collect their win and head for the exits. The team posted on social media immediately after the final whistle with "Overturn this," alongside footage of Lukaku's goal, with Lukaku cupping his ear to the Seattle crowd. The implication being, of course, a direct shot at the FIFA appeal that brought Balogun back into the tournament. Clean. Cold. Effective.
Then there was the in-game moment NBC News reports that Lukaku led his Belgian teammates in a group imitation of Trump's YMCA dance during the match. Picture that for a second. Foreign players, at the United States' World Cup, performing the American president's favorite post-rally dance as a taunt to the home crowd. The audacity is almost athletic in its own right.
There is something uniquely 2026 about getting trolled on your own soil using your own president's dance moves as the weapon. Belgium found the one gesture guaranteed to infuriate American soccer fans and MAGA fans simultaneously, which is genuinely impressive targeting.
What Comes Next for the Tournament
Belgium now faces Spain on Friday in Inglewood, California, in a quarterfinal match for a berth against either France or Morocco. Spain beat Portugal 1-0, and with that result Cristiano Ronaldo confirmed his World Cup career is over, retiring without ever reaching a final. Spain goalkeeper Unai Simon has now gone 519 minutes without conceding at this tournament, breaking the record set by Italy's Walter Zenga, according to NBC News.
Elsewhere in the bracket today, Argentina and Egypt face off in Atlanta at noon Eastern, with Lionel Messi sitting on seven goals, tied with Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland in the Golden Boot race. Messi has also scored in eight consecutive World Cup matches, a record stretching back to Argentina's 2022 title run. Egypt coach Hossam Hassan said ahead of the match, "We're no underdogs. We're big in every respect. We are a civilization that is 7,000 years old, even more than 7,000 years." Egypt has already beaten Australia on penalties to reach this stage, so the confidence is not entirely without foundation.
Swiss fans and Colombian fans square off in Vancouver at 4 p.m. Eastern. All games are on Telemundo and Peacock.
The Dingo Take
Here is what stings most about Monday night: Belgium left De Bruyne, Doku, and Lukaku on the bench to start the match. A weakened Belgium, playing against the host nation at the host nation's World Cup, with a partisan crowd and all the pressure to push the other way, still won 4-1 without breaking a sweat. The US did not lose to the version of Belgium that beats you. It lost to the B-team warmup version, and then the actual version showed up late and scored anyway.
The YMCA thing is going to live rent-free in the heads of American soccer fans for a while, and honestly, fair enough. Belgium found the perfect symbol. It is not just trash talk, it is geopolitically loaded trash talk, deployed with surgical precision by people who knew exactly what they were doing. Lukaku is not a man who stumbles into metaphors. That was a choice.
The US goes out in the round of 16 again, the same place they've been bounced in every competitive World Cup run since 2002. All that promise from the earlier rounds, all that energy from the home crowds, all that noise about this being American soccer's moment, and Belgium turned it into a punchline before they even got to the airport. The rebuild continues. The wait continues. At least the Belgians had fun.
