After all the controversy and commander-in-chief-led skullduggery, here came the great American fall from grace. Following the whackiest of all lead-ups to a World Cup knockout match, one statement outdoing the next, an aggrieved Belgium outfit firmly made their statement on the pitch to knock the United States out of the World Cup on Monday evening.
That’s what you call bad karma, Mr President.
And it felt fitting that Fifa president Gianni Infantino, who took Trump’s call to arms, was present in his VIP seat to bear witness. The extraordinary debacle surrounding the removal of Folarin Balogun’s one-game ban, rendering him available for this match, had cast a dark cloud over the sporting integrity of this World Cup. It was an unprecedented type of political interference, meddling with on-field decisions on a global stage. Sometimes, though, sport has its own way of providing poetic justice. And in the Seattle heat, it was a dish best served cold.
Notably, Balogun was largely anonymous here. In fact, he was the player with the least amount of touches in the first-half: just 10. And it was highly appropriate that, after all the dialogue swirling around the US striker, it would actually be Belgium’s forward marksman, 25-year-old Charles De Ketelaere, five months older than Balogun, who scored the goals which sent his team to the quarter-finals in Los Angeles on Friday. A date with Spain awaits a Belgian side that radiated a defiant siege mentality after a befuddling few days.
For US head coach Mauricio Pochettino, it is the most abject of finales to a campaign which promised so much. Whether he stays in the role or is lured back to European club football remains to be seen. For now, though, the US join their fellow co-hosts Mexico and Canada in reaching the last-16 stage and no further; North America’s involvement at this World Cup is over.
And by the end, as Romelu Lukaku put the icing on the Belgian cake in second-half stoppage-time, there was stunned silence and forlorn faces in the stands. The feel-good story turned bad is over.
Indisputably, there had never been a build-up to a World Cup knockout match quite like the last 32 hours. First, Sunday morning’s bombshell announcement; second, the murmurings of state lobbying emerging online; third, the condemnation from the majority of the football world and, finally and perhaps inevitably, the US president openly admitting said political influence in a media conference on Monday.
For Trump, it was altogether straightforward. “I asked for a review because I didn’t think it was a foul,” he said. Donald Trump: now arbiter of on-field soccer decisions. Moments later, he added: “I didn’t know what the hell a red card was.” If it were satire, you would genuinely sigh.
Unsurprisingly, despite rogue calls for Pochettino to “do the right thing” and not play the London-raised striker, Balogun started in an unchanged American line-up. Yet, as pondered by this writer on Sunday, the whole saga actually hindered the co-hosts and galvanised their opponents. Belgium, the wronged party in all of this, began this sun-drenched contest with a point to prove and at a rate of knots. And the US never recovered.
Defender Timothy Castagne forced a tremendous save out of Matt Fresse in the first minute while Youri Tielemans missed a simple tap-in inside the penalty area six minutes later. Fortunately for the Belgian captain, his teammate would have no such trouble.
Amid a frenzied start from the hosts, like rabbits in the West Coast headlights, the US failed to clear their lines in the box. Rangers midfielder Nicolas Raskin weaved to his left before splitting the defence open with a ball across the box and there was De Ketelaere to tap into an empty net. Mauricio Pochettino waved his arms in exasperation. It wouldn’t be the last time.
For all the pre-match narrative, the first-half was actually the worst half of football this US team have played all tournament. Belgium were utterly dominant, controlling possession and quickly regaining the ball high up the pitch. The US badly needed their hydration break – the most American of additions to this World Cup – and, out of nothing half an hour in, they looked to have found a route back into the game with their first shot on goal.
It had to be Balogun, of course, who won a questionably called foul 25 yards from goal. Malik Tillman, who scored a sumptuous free-kick against Bosnia, scored another here, only this one took a big deflection off Hans Vanaken’s head in the Belgian wall, completely wrong-footing keeper Thibaut Courtois. It felt such an undeserved equaliser that, justifiably, Belgium reclaimed their lead two minutes later.
Leonardo Trossard chipped a cross to the back post all too easily and found star striker De Ketelaere again, rising above US captain Tim Ream to head home. This time, Pochettino kicked over the Powerade drinks bottle carrier, water spluttering everywhere; he knew it was the flimsiest of goals to concede.
A breathless few minutes, swinging one way then the other, mirroring the chaos of the last two days.
Belgium’s Dodi Lukebakio should have given the Europeans a two-goal cushion but headed just wide from a devilish free-kick, while Balogun’s first significant involvement came on the stroke of half-time as he swiped the ball over after a half-volley in the box.
Onto the second-half where, 57 minutes in, the match swung irretrievably away from the US. It was some screw-up: keeper Fresse incomprehensibly dilly-dallied on the ball outside the penalty area, De Ketelaere nipped in and laid up Vanaken, who struck home into the empty net from 30 yards despite a backpedalling Ream, somehow, failing to divert the ball away from goal.
It would prove to be the hammer blow. Christian Pulisic hobbled off straight after, in what almost felt like the waving of the white flag. To the dismay of 60,000 Americans packed inside, the US created little in the way of chances in the closing stages. Balogun had their best, a shot on goal after 80 minutes well-saved by Courtois.
But on the whole, they went out with a whimper; a team that, after all the shenanigans, put in their worst performance of the tournament here. As bad as the US were, Belgium were equally as good. Substitute Lukaku, capitalising on another American mistake, this time from defender Chris Richards, coolly slotted home a fourth in the closing stages for the final knockout punch.
For so long, Trump shied away from this World Cup. Without his involvement, Pochettino’s side were flying. Yet in just 48 hours, it has all unravelled for the US president and the national football team. Frankly, it’s just deserts.
