Berea, July 07 — The United States of America (USA dreams of winning the 2026 Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) World Cup has finally reached a dead end after being crushed in their own backyard by Belgium with 4-1 goals.
Played at the Seattle Stadium, the USA became the third co-hosts country of the World Cup to be eliminated, whereby Canada were the first co-host country to be beaten by Morocco by 3-0, then followed by Mexico booted out by England with 3-2 goals.
The USA went to Belgium game surrounded by controversy of a red card which was issued to one of its strikers Folarin Balogun while they were playing Bosnia and Herzegovina, but later ruled out to be illegal after the intervention of its President, Donald Trump who confirmed calling FIFA President Gianni Infantino over the red card issue.
During the game which drew global attention whereby the USA was having the home ground advantage, however Charles De Kettelaere of Belgium managed to score twice in the first half being in the 9th minutes and 33rd minute of the game, but Malik Tillman from the USA also put his name on the score sheet.
As the game entered the second half, several attempts were made from both sides, but Belgium applied pressure on USA forcing them to make mistakes in their own back yard which led Hans Vanaken to score in the 57th minute.
Meanwhile, in the dying minutes of the game, Romelu Lukaku sealed Belgium victory by netting the 4th goal in the 90th minute and thus putting their country in the last eight teams.
During the post match interview, USA Coach Mauricio Pochettino blamed his players for failure to connect despite getting an opportunity to score and panic from the goalkeeper which cost them a humiliating defeat.
In yet another round of 16, Portugal was caught sleeping in added time of their match against Spain whereby Mikel Merino who entered as a substitute made a dramatic impact to the game when he scored a dramatic goal in the 91st minute of the match and thus sending Portugal packing home.
Among the countries which have booked their place in the quarter finals includes France, Morocco, Norway, England, Spain and Belgium.
Furthermore, among the countries which are yet to know their fate includes Argentina and Egypt at the match scheduled to play today in the afternoon, and Switzerland which is pitted against Colombia to play later tonight.
Ends/RM/tl
