Belgium beat the United States 4-1 in the 2026 FIFA World Cup round of 16 on Monday in Seattle. After Romelu Lukaku scored the fourth goal in stoppage time, several Belgian squad members gathered on the pitch and performed the Trump dance made famous by US President Donald Trump during his 2024 campaign.
The mockery came hours after FIFA had cleared the United States’ leading striker Folarin Balogun to play in the match, suspending an automatic one-match ban for a red card in the previous round. The reversal followed a personal phone call from Trump to FIFA president Gianni Infantino, and drew open condemnation from Belgium’s federation and from European soccer body UEFA.
A 4-1 Statement Win in Seattle
Belgium scored first, in the ninth minute, and rarely looked back. Charles De Ketelaere turned a Nicolas Raskin pass across the face of goal over the line to give the ninth-ranked Red Devils an early lead. The co-hosts had opened the tournament with three consecutive wins but offered little in response. Malik Tillman curled a deflected free kick into the Belgian net for the Americans’ first shot of the night.
The 1-1 tie lasted 120 seconds. De Ketelaere completed his brace with a far-post header over US captain Tim Ream. Belgium went into halftime in command of possession, with a 2-1 lead to defend.
The third Belgian goal came in the 57th minute, a mistake that turned a contestable tie into a rout. Goalkeeper Matt Freese slipped while trying to play the ball outside his area, and the ball fell to Hans Vanaken. Vanaken rolled the ball into an unguarded net to silence the Seattle sellout crowd. Belgium now had a two-goal cushion and a problem the hosts looked unable to solve.
Lukaku added a fourth deep in stoppage time, finishing low into the bottom corner after Vanaken’s pressing forced a turnover in the American defensive third. The match’s expected goals tally told the same story as the scoreboard, with Belgium’s 2.15 dwarfing the United States’ 0.67. The 4-1 result booked a Friday quarterfinal against Spain in Los Angeles.
Lukaku’s Goal Brought the Mockery Out
At the fourth goal, the celebration became the story. Several Belgian squad members gathered on the turf and performed the hip-swaying, fist-pumping moves that Trump adopted during rallies, mimicked in the past by athletes including UFC heavyweight Jon Jones. An explainer on the dance across global sport had already mapped that history before Monday night. Belgium’s official social feed amplified the moment with an image of Lukaku cupping his ear to the Seattle crowd, captioned “overturn this” in a direct taunt at FIFA’s ruling.
The dance was not Belgium’s only reply. Midfielder Nicolas Raskin said there had been “a sense of injustice within the squad, and we were determined to respond on the field.” Captain Youri Tielemans was blunter: “We told ourselves we had to respond on the pitch. That’s what we did.” Coach Rudi Garcia told reporters the choreography itself was “not my thing”; he preferred his team’s response to be the scoreline.
How a Bosnia Red Card Cleared Balogun to Play
The chain of events that put Folarin Balogun on the Seattle pitch began earlier in the tournament. The American forward, the team’s leading scorer with three World Cup goals, was shown a straight red card in the 64th minute of a 2-0 win over Bosnia-Herzegovina for stepping awkwardly on defender Tarik Muharemović’s right ankle. Brazilian referee Raphael Claus initially waved play on, then upgraded to red after a VAR review.
The card triggered an automatic one-match ban. Two days before the Belgium match, FIFA’s Disciplinary Committee suspended the implementation of that sanction, invoking Article 27 of the FIFA Disciplinary Code to place Balogun on a probationary period of one year. According to the AP, the decision appeared to be the first time since Garrincha played in the 1962 World Cup final after a lobbying campaign that a World Cup red card had not resulted in a suspension. FIFA said referee Claus remains “one of the world’s leading professional referees.”
Belgium appealed. FIFA’s Disciplinary Committee ruled the Royal Belgian Football Association’s request “inadmissible on the grounds that the RBFA is not a party to the proceedings” and so had no standing to appeal. UEFA added its own statement the same day, saying the decision had “crossed a line” and offered the United States preferential treatment.
Trump Says He Asked Only for a Review
Trump confirmed on Monday that he had phoned Infantino. “All I did was ask for a review. I didn’t say, you have to do this,” Trump told reporters at the White House. He called Infantino “a smart, tough man” whose “stock has gone through the roof.” Of the foul, Trump said: “I didn’t think it was a foul. I thought it was two great athletes that crashed each other and got entangled.”
Of the Brazilian referee Claus, Trump added that the official was “a little bit suspect if you check his past.” Earlier, on social media, Trump had gone further. “Thank you to FIFA for doing what was right, and reversing a great injustice!” Trump wrote, presenting the ruling as settled.
Infantino answered with his own statement on Monday. “FIFA’s judicial bodies are independent. They operate autonomously, apply the FIFA Disciplinary Code, and decide cases based on the applicable regulations and the specific facts before them,” the FIFA president said. “Their independence is essential to the credibility and integrity of football, and this must always be respected.” That, he added, is “the principle that I will always uphold.”
Infantino acknowledged the call but said he had explained to Trump that “there was an ongoing legal process involving FIFA’s independent judicial bodies and that the case would be decided in due course by the competent bodies.” US Soccer accepted the ruling in its own statement, saying the federation accepted “the decision of the Disciplinary Committee” and looked forward to the round-of-16 match. According to an ABC News report, the US government supplied FIFA with “additional evidence that was used in the appeal process.”
Belgium’s Coach Calls the Ruling an April Fools’ Joke
Belgium did not keep its objection private. Garcia mocked the timing of the decision through a translator, suggesting FIFA’s offices were running on European April Fools’ Day rather than July. The Royal Belgian Football Association said it was “astonished” and that it was “investigating all potential options” to protect “the fundamental principles of fair play.” UEFA went further in its own statement, calling the reversal a line crossed and saying the move raised questions about preferential treatment offered to the co-hosts.
I didn’t know that in the offices of FIFA the fifth of July was the first of April in Europe.
Garcia, the Belgium head coach, said that line through a translator at his pre-match press conference. He went further after the win, calling his team’s performance one of “mastery and dedication” and saying the squad had decided to respond on the pitch. The Belgian FA’s statement added: “The Belgian federation does not defend itself, it does not protect the national team. She defends football in general, she defends her integrity, her ethics.” Other coaches quickly joined the chorus.
England’s Thomas Tuchel, watching from afar with his team already through, wondered where the precedent would stop: “We can now debate endlessly. Where does this end? Where does it stop?” Norway’s Ståle Solbakken was sharper, via the AP: “Is there going to be some committee somewhere that is going to take that card away? It’s a bad, bad, bad, bad, bad decision that will hurt the World Cup.” Both coaches’ questions turned on the same problem: who decides the next red card.
On Friday, Belgium Faces Spain in Los Angeles
Belgium moves on. Spain is the next opponent, scheduled for Friday in Los Angeles, where Group G winners continue a run that began with their opening group-stage match in Seattle. The Red Devils have now reached the men’s World Cup quarterfinals in three of the last four editions, a run that includes a 2014 defeat of this same United States side in the round of 16.
The dance will overshadow the result for as long as the clip circulates. On the pitch, Belgium broke a USA back line that had opened the tournament unbeaten, with the third and fourth goals coming after the interval. De Ketelaere’s brace anchored the win, and Lukaku’s late strike sealed the margin. Belgium now heads to a fixture against a Spain side that advanced from their side of the round-of-16 bracket.
For the United States, the loss continues a familiar pattern. Pochettino’s team had come in seeking a first men’s quarterfinal since 2002 and instead became the fourth consecutive American men’s side to lose in the round of 16. Tyler Adams, the USMNT midfielder, said the Balogun saga “did not affect” the team on the pitch.
Christian Pulisic had earlier summed up his team’s frustration with the red card itself: “If you look at the foul, it was just zero intent at all.” He had already performed the Trump dance himself after scoring against Jamaica in the Concacaf Nations League, though he said at the time it was “just a dance that everyone was doing.” Balogun played on Monday and did not score. US Soccer’s statement on the reversal had been that the federation “accept the decision of the Disciplinary Committee.” The dance and the result remain.
