Live coverage and text updates of USA against Belgium in last-16 game, overshadowed by Balogun suspension row.
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No injuries are reported in the Belgium camp ahead of the match.
Belgium’s predicted lineup
(4-2-3-1): Courtois; Castagne, Michele, Theate, De Cuyper; Tielemans, Vanaken; Trossard, De Bruyne, Doku; Lukaku
The USA’s Cristian Roldan is doubtful with a muscle injury.
USA’s predicted lineup
(4-3-3): Freese; Freeman, Richards, Ream, Robinson; McKennie, Adams, Tillman; Dest, Balogun, Pulisic
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Football has gained a foothold in the United States, and the country was finally ready to host the World Cup 2026 – which was not the case in 1994.
Back then, when the US last hosted the World Cup, the country had no professional league and the national team was cobbled together with ex-collegians, journeymen and semi-professionals.
“Leading into ’94, we were at risk on the ticket side,” former US Soccer Federation President Sunil Gulati told Al Jazeera in a recent interview. “For the US Organizing Committee, it was a big concern if we could sell all the tickets.’’
In the end, the 1994 tournament was successful. A record 3.5 million (about 68,991 per game) attended matches; the US advanced from the group stage for the first time since 1930, losing 1-0 to eventual champions Brazil in the last 16; and seeds were planted for a professional league, Major League Soccer (MLS).
Football has since moved from the margins to the mainstream in the US.
MLS is thriving, the national team is ranked a creditable 16th in the world by FIFA, and as the World Cup returned, ticket demand far outpaced supply.
“If you said in 1994 MLS would be a 30-team league, with [22] soccer-specific stadiums and averaging 20,000 crowds – not in our wildest dreams,” Gulati said.
“The landscape is completely different. The most visible thing is the development of professional leagues, MLS and the women’s league [NWSL]. We had no first division league. And now there is [also] USL Division 2 and 3. The number of teams has increased dramatically.”
Read more: How US football has moved from margins to mainstream
The World Cup campaign of the USA football team took an extraordinary turn on Sunday when FIFA seemingly broke with its own rules to allow star player Folarin Balogun to face Belgium – despite receiving a red card in the Round of 32 match against Bosnia and Herzegovina on Wednesday.
The global football body announced that it had suspended the red card – which had meant an automatic one-match ban – after United States President Donald Trump urged FIFA chief Gianni Infantino to review the case.
Balogun, who plays his club football for Monaco in France, has scored three goals for the cohosts at this World Cup and is the team’s leading scorer in the tournament.
The FIFA decision prompted criticism from Belgium’s football association, Europe’s top football body, a former FIFA boss, multiple top former players and many others. Critics argued that overturning a red card suspension after direct political intervention undermined the integrity of the tournament and set a dangerous precedent.
On Monday evening, the Belgian football association also accused FIFA of effectively killing any chance for it to challenge the global sports body’s decision. Hours later, FIFA rejected Belgium’s appeal against its decision.
Click here for a closer look at what happened and why it has set off such a storm.
The last-16 match between Portugal and Spain was settled by an injury-time by Mikel Merino’s slotted finish.
Click here to review our live coverage of the match.
Spain will now await the winner of the USA and Belgium match in the quarterfinals.
Catch the latest match highlights from the FIFA World Cup 2026 in North America:
Hello, welcome and thanks for joining our live coverage of the FIFA World Cup 2026 last 16 clash between USA and Belgium.
USA are the last of the cohosts, following the eliminations of Canada and Mexico.
Their match against Belgium has been supercharged by the controversial decision by the sport’s governing body to suspend the red card shown to forward Folarin Balogun in USA’s previous match.
The move has prompted comment from across the game, and in the political sphere from President Donald Trump, who has admitted speaking to FIFA.
I’m Kevin Hand, and I’ll bring you all the pre-match build-up, analysis, team news and photo coverage before kickoff.
Rohan Sharma will then take you through our comprehensive minute-by-minute live text commentary.
Get-in prices for the round of 16 football game at Seattle Stadium have fallen by 27 percent over the past three days.
Trump says he asked FIFA’s president to review USA player Balogun’s game suspension, but did not tell him what to do.
The Balogun affair has shocked football, but FIFA’s showpiece has a long history of fixes, farces and failures.
Lionel Messi’s Argentina go up against Mohamed Salah’s Egypt in a spicy World Cup round of 16 encounter.
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