The United States men’s national team will be facing its biggest challenge yet with a Round of 16 match against Belgium on Monday. A win in Seattle would send the U.S. to the quarterfinals, which would match the second-best World Cup result in the country’s history.
But first they’ll have to get through Belgium, a strong UEFA squad with a recent history of success. Here are five things to know about the Red Devils before Monday night’s matchup.
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1. Belgium is two World Cups removed from its best finish
Compared to some of the other European powerhouses, Belgium’s success has been more nascent. Despite appearing in the first-ever World Cup in 1930, and being a regular participant in the years since, the Red Devils have rarely made it past the first knockout round. There are two clear exceptions: two semifinal appearances, one in 1986 and 2018.
The 2018 World Cup was a crowning achievement for Belgium. The team ended in third place, its best finish ever, winning six of its seven games — including two wins over England (one in the group stage, one in the third-place match) and knockout wins over Japan and Brazil. Their only loss came in the semifinals to France, which went on to win it all.
2. Belgium defeated the USMNT in March
It hasn’t been very long at all since these two sides last met: In March, the U.S. hosted Belgium for a friendly. Unfortunately, the game did not go the USA’s way, as the Red Devils crushed the Americans with a 5-2 victory. Though Weston McKennie sent the USMNT ahead in the first half, the U.S. conceded all five of Belgium’s goals in a row, in a loss that head coach Mauricio Pochettino admitted was “painful.”
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But that was then, and this is now. Given that it was a friendly, the lineups and rosters looked pretty different as both teams tested out their benches; a number of the USMNT’s current starters weren’t even at the March training camp. Still, it’s a notable starting point for the Round of 16.
Can Belgium overcome the USMNT’s home-field advantage Monday in their World Cup Round of 16 showdown in Seattle?
(AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
3. The Red Devils head into this game on a scoring hot streak — and a streak of good luck
The first two games of the group stage were a bit of a disappointment for Belgium, with two draws against Egypt and Iran. They also had failed to actively score a goal: Their goal against Egypt, which forced a 1-1 draw, was technically an own goal.
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But a dominant 5-1 win over New Zealand to close the group stage opened the team’s offensive floodgates, as Leandro Trossard ended with a brace and an assist alongside three other goalscorers.
In Belgium’s Round of 32 game against Senegal, it briefly looked like the team had gone cold again as the Lions of Teranga took a 2-0 lead early in the second half. But Belgium rallied, scoring two goals in three minutes as regulation expired to force extra time. The Red Devils then won the game off a penalty called very late in extra time, with captain Youri Tielemans nailing the PK for his second goal of the night. The dramatic 3-2 win was enough to send the team on to the next round.
4. Belgium enters the game with its own kind of home-field advantage
With the Round of 16 game taking place in Seattle, expect fans of the United States to be out in full force. But ironically, it’ll be Belgium heading into this game with Seattle as its home base. Unlike most teams who have had to fly all over the country, Belgium has played the World Cup draw to perfection, picking Renton, Washington, as a base camp on the way to group stage games in Seattle, Los Angeles and Vancouver.
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Monday will be the Red Devils’ third game in Seattle after playing the group stage opener and the Round of 32 game there. And while the USMNT was based in Irvine, California, for the group stage, Belgium has been practicing just a jump away from Seattle Stadium, at the Seattle Sounders’ training ground in nearby Renton.
Though the Red Devils are playing with 120 minutes under their legs while the U.S. won their game in regulation, the location gives the Red Devils a slight advantage over the USMNT, which has been traveling back and forth along the West Coast for the past several weeks.
5. Belgium’s roster is bolstered by a waning “Golden Generation”
The Red Devils’ 2018 result came thanks to what many have called Belgium’s “Golden Generation” — a batch of incredibly talented players who formed Belgium’s squad in 2018. But by 2022, hopes that Belgium could repeat that success had faltered, as the team couldn’t make it out of the group stage.
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Some players from that 2018 squad, like Eden Hazard and Vincent Kompany, have retired. Others have seen their roles reduced: Romelu Lukaku, the country’s all-time leading scorer, has gone from starter to sub, used by the team as a second-half weapon. Kevin De Bruyne, still one of the team’s most famous players at 35 years old, was subbed off relatively early in Belgium’s win over Senegal in a sign of the page turning. (Thibaut Courtois, though, is still in the net for the Red Devils, starting as the first-choice goalkeeper for the fourth straight World Cup.)
Younger up-and-comers are filling out this Belgium team, like lightning-fast 24-year-old forward Jérémy Doku, or 2018 benchwarmer-turned-2026 captain Tielemans. The belief is that Belgium’s window to win a World Cup may have closed after 2022, though this squad will certainly try its best to prove that theory wrong.
