Twelve Years Later, Belgium Returns to Haunt the U.S.
A Round of 16 rematch in Seattle doubles as a test of whether the sport has finally arrived in America
T welve years after Belgium eliminated the United States in the 2014 World Cup, the two teams meet again, this time at Lumen Field, with a quarterfinal on the line. The USMNT hasn't reached that round since 2002. Mauricio Pochettino's group gets a shot to end the drought on home soil, in a tournament the U.S. is co-hosting for the first time. Belgium, meanwhile, arrives having survived a wild comeback win over Senegal, still built around the same core that broke American hearts in Salvador.
The math is stark. The Americans are 4-7-15 all-time against European teams at the World Cup, and they already lost to Turkey earlier in this tournament. Beat Belgium and Pochettino's group reaches a quarterfinal the program hasn't seen since 2002. Lose, and the co-host storyline turns into another cautionary tale about a country that still hasn't cracked the sport on its own biggest stage.
Twelve years ago in Salvador, Belgium beat the USA 2-1 in extra time, with Tim Howard making 16 saves in a losing effort that still gets replayed on American soccer message boards. Three starters from that Belgian side, Thibaut Courtois, Kevin De Bruyne and Romelu Lukaku, are still in Rudi Garcia's lineup. Not one American from that 2014 roster remains. The continuity gap says something about where each program has been the last decade, and it isn't flattering to U.S. Soccer's turnover.
Not one American from that 2014 roster remains. The continuity gap says something about where each program has been the last decade.
Belgium got here the hard way, rallying from 2-0 down to beat Senegal 3-2 in extra time, with Youri Tielemans converting a stoppage-time penalty. That's a veteran team that knows how to survive knockout soccer. The USMNT got here with Folarin Balogun scoring and then getting sent off in a 2-0 win over Bosnia and Herzegovina, a reminder that this group still finds ways to make things harder than they need to be.
Lumen Field will be full and loud, ticket demand pushed by FIFA's variable pricing into some of the priciest secondary-market sales of the tournament. That demand is the point. This is the first World Cup the U.S. has co-hosted, and a home crowd getting a real shot at a quarterfinal, against the same country that ended the run in Brazil, is exactly the test organizers wanted when they pitched this bid. Whether American soccer has actually arrived gets measured in a scoreline, not a ticket sales report.